Empathy
by Yami hitokiri
Summary: YAOI Sequel to Klepto Yugi's got a crisis and his name is Yami no Bakura. Now he must carefully manage his friends and his own yami's intuitive instincts to pursue the only person who's ever understood. YB YYY BR R? !COMPLETE!
1. I Want to Know Your Fears

I just reformated this chapter. Tell me if its screwy. Love you guys.

I don't know why I wrote this. It's like a harsh reality fic. I don't know. I don't know what prompted this. Perhaps I have some subconscious psycho problem in me or something.

This fic features: Kleptoshipping, Puzzlshipping, Tendershipping, and Ryoux?

**WARNING!!!** There will be **no lemons** but I will be getting pretty **graphic**. Sorry for all those that don't read this in time. That's why this is rated **M** for **MATURE!**

Remember: This is a sequel to **Kleptoshipping**. So if you don't know what's going on... that's why.

* * *

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

**Chyaputa 1: I Want to Know Your Fears**

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

* * *

Yugi watched that head of white hair bob up and down, the single pale hand attempting to tie a shoe.

Yugi stared for two minutes before coming to his senses.

"Here, I'll help you, Bakura-kun," Yugi said, practically falling to his knees to lace up the sneaker.

Bakura Ryou's big brown eyes blinked. Then he smiled. "Thank you, Yugi-kun."

Yugi gulped, hiding his face downward at that ragged old shoe.

It was _his_ shoe too, after all.

Yugi gulped again as his own stubby fingers worked on a knot.

"So… they're letting you go home?" Yugi asked.

Bakura Ryou shrugged. "I suppose. There's not really a reason for them to keep me any longer, is there? They've done all they can for me at the moment."

Yugi did not want to stand up but he soon found the knot tied. When he got to his feet his eyes jumped immediately, irresistibly, to the solid white cast that lay reclining on Bakura Ryou's lap.

It was only his wrist. Nothing serious. After all Yugi hadn't hit Bakura that hard…

"What about your chest? Aren't they wondering what happened?" Yugi asked.

Bakura Ryou looked down at the heavy bandages on his midriff. "They figure my 'pendent' cut into me when I fell down the stairs." And Bakura Ryou smiled a little, directly at Yugi this time as though they were both in on a secret joke.

It was a secret, but it wasn't a joke.

Yugi couldn't stop the nausea in his throat; he had seen those wounds before they had been sewn up and disinfected by the hospital. "But _that_ deep…?"

"It was an _accident_," Bakura Ryou repeated.

That was their story.

There was a hand on Yugi's shoulder. And Yugi almost jumped. "Yugi-kun, it's ok. I'm alright."

Yugi found protests leaping from his mouth. "But I didn't mean for this to happen- I didn't think- if I hadn't-"

Bakura Ryou smiled. He had a very comforting smile. Not at all like _his_… "Yugi-kun, I don't want to know."

Yugi's jaws clamped shut.

Bakura Ryou settled calmly, as he did most things in his life, back onto the pillows of his hospital bed. "I'm used to it. I know he does things that I'm not aware of and I don't want to know about them. I trust that he won't go too far."

Yugi wobbled on his heels. This situation needed a whole lot of trust.

Then Bakura Ryou leaned forward and slipped off the bed, his feet landing on the floor. "After all, it's not only my body, is it? I can't just keep it all for myself."

And he smiled.

Bakura Ryou got in a car with his broken wrist, his torn-up chest, and his golden Sennen Ring and went home.

Yugi took the bus.

/It was nice of you to visit./

Yugi blinked. Slowly and deliberately. "I suppose…"

/Bakura-kun's got enough problems with that villain. It was nice to remind him he's got friends./

Yugi felt a shrug coming on but he let the urge pass.

There was some thoughtful silence when Yugi chose not to respond to his darker personality's comment, and Yugi tried not to think about certain events and life…

The bus was rattling along and Yugi was reminiscing.

Then he felt it.

Yugi looked down at the folds of his pants between his legs and he groaned. "Greeeeaat…"

He put his knees up on the seat in front of him to hide his impulsive erection. _They_ happened without warning nowadays. The littlest thing would get him aroused, unlike a two weeks ago, before all this happened…

His other half was very, very silent.

Yugi tried to think about dead puppies. Dead puppies drowning in their blood. Blood…

Yugi tried not to think about blood seeping onto the front of his T shirt from a pressing, torn-up chest.

Dead babies then. _Clean_ dead babies.

His problem finally, and gracefully before his stop, faded away.

Yugi got off the bus, walked up his street, entered the game shop, greeted his grandpa behind the counter and went up to his room. Then he flopped down on his bed with a sigh.

"Glad that's over," Yugi said to the room. Not only to the room.

/Aibou/

Yugi sat up expectantly. "What is it, mou hitori no boku?"

Yugi was surprised to find an arm come from behind him and wrap itself around his shoulders. A transparent arm.

/You said you love me, right/

Yugi breathed down at that encircling arm. "Yeah, I did. And I do."

That arm extended down Yugi's chest to his stomach; its illusion softer than nothing. /Do you… want to try something/

Yugi was a little concerned. His other self had never acted like this before; his voice had never sounded so delicate.

Yugi turned his head, in search of his other half's face. "What, mou hitori no boku?"

The transparent image of Yami no Yugi held its lips on Yugi's shocked mouth. It was a kiss with air.

Yugi thought he was starting to understand… "Mou hitori no boku?"

/Could we…? Just try/

Was he begging?

Yugi felt fear. "S-sure." After all, he would do anything for his other half.

/Let me have your arm. /

It was a request, Yugi didn't have to obey but as he saw that ghostly arm fall into his he knew he could not stop it.

The feeling and control left his entire right arm and shoulder, cold diffusing into his chest and neck. It was not comfortable.

Then the arm-that-used-to-be-his rose alien-like; the foreign fingers touched the skin on his face.

/Close your eyes. /

To keep the illusion, right? Yugi closed his eyes.

The fingers that drifted over eyelids and a nose and cheeks weren't his; Yugi tried to ignore the recognizable bitten stubs of cuticles. Then the fingers-that-were-not-his touched his lips; they dipped inside the cavity to prod Yugi's soft tongue. Yugi fought to disregard the familiar taste of his own fingernails. The hand fell to Yugi's neck and Yugi breathed.

Then the fingers drifted inside Yugi's collar, tugged at the neck hole, stretching it to reach for Yugi's chest.

"Mou hitori-"

/Shhhhh… /

Yugi trembled and hurt as the fingers teased.

'How far will you go?' Yugi wondered and knew his other half could hear this thought.

/How far do you want me to go/

Yugi bit his lip.

/Lay back. /

They were such gentle instructions and yet Yugi followed them blindly, under the hypnosis of fingertips. His back hit his covers and the mattress creaked. The fingers were under the shirt, toying with his tender nipples. They drifted downwards…

Yugi's breath hitched.

"_Do you love him, Yugi-kun?"_

Yugi shivered as that small sweaty hand fumbled around on his flesh. "Y-yess," the boy hissed, eyes scrunched up.

The fingers were too hasty. They plucked at the zipper to Yugi's jeans.

"Mou hit-" Yugi tried but again was shushed.

Was this possible? Could he do this?

"_Do you think he loves you?"_

"Y-yes," Yugi argued.

Yami no Yugi controlled the hand that slipped down passed the rim of Yugi's boxers.

"_How frustrating."_

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

Knock, knock.

"Yugi?"

Yugi flinched. He was surrounded by messy blankets and musty sheets and erotic illusions. The stench of his body. And a sticky foreign hand.

"Yugi, dinner's in five, ok?"

Yugi brought his teeth away from his sore lip. "Ok…"

As his mother walked away and her footsteps disappeared, the hand tugged at his core once more. Yugi groaned, unprepared for such a vicious strike.

"Mou hitori no boku, you are-" Yugi gasped as the hand yanked him.

But his other half hadn't said anything in a long while.

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

"You're late, Mutou," the teacher scolded as Yugi fell through the classroom doors.

Yugi scratched the back of his head and gave a silly little smile. "Sorry, Midori-sensei. My alarm didn't go off."

The teacher scrutinized him critically. "I don't need to hear your excuses. Sit down, Mutou."

Yugi scrambled to his seat, well aware of the eyes of the class all around him. His body was still jittery, pumped with hormones from his and his darker half's surprise morning session.

They had gotten much more creative since their first trial and as they got more creative their sessions became more frequent; it didn't help that Yugi was so easily excitable these days.

Yugi desperately crossed his legs as effectively as he could under his desk, absolutely refusing an accident to come poking out in the middle of class.

As he dug through his bag for paper to take notes, Yugi noticed he didn't have a pencil.

He turned immediately to his right. "Bakura-kun, do you have a pencil I could-"

Without looking at him, Bakura tossed Yugi the writing utensil on his desk.

Yugi stared at it, then at his white haired friend.

And from behind a fold of hands, Yugi spotted a grin on Bakura's pale features.

"There you are, Yugi-kun," he said.

And Yugi stared back. There he was.

* * *

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

* * *

This is so weird. So different from all my other fics. Actually the first fic I ever read about YugixBakura was very happy, totally the opposite of this.

But I hate depression stuff, so are going to be some happy innocent moments in this fic too. Just to break up the depression. So don't worry.

This story, unlike its predecessor has more than one chapter. It's going to be pretty short though, nothing epic. I'll probably update spastically when I feel like it since I'm focusing on **Contamination** right now. (shrug)

**REVIEW!!!** Tell me what you think of this twisted story.

**REVIEW!!**


	2. From Your Feet to the Back of Your Ear

Here's a question: What the hell does Hurt/Comfort mean? Seriously, I really don't know! Someone help me out, _please_. I need to know if I've categorized this story correctly.

Yeah, I was bored. So here's chapter two. Yumyum. No necessarily though, since this is a fairly serious mind-warping fic. Seriously. I know it freaks me out.

I was going to write this fic where Atemu and Bakura were both ghosts, it had the same sort of principle, where you fall in love with someone you can't touch. But this is much better. The other one was too sweet.

I'm not good with this vulgar stuff. But I love this fic. It touches my soul.

* * *

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

**Chyaputa 2: From Your Feet to the Back of Your Ear**

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

* * *

It was raining during lunch.

"Yugi, want to eat in Arai-sensei's classroom today?" Jounouchi suggested, beaming with his usual enthusiasm.

Yugi was twitchy; he had been all through class. And he had felt sick when he saw Bakura leave the classroom.

"Sorry, I got to- um, give Bakura his pencil back. You guys eat without me," Yugi dismissed and he ran out of the classroom.

Heart banging into his ribs, the short teenage boy dashed down the hallway and even though Yugi was sure Bakura had left at a walk, it took Yugi a long time to catch up to him.

Yugi found the white-haired teenager outside, in the rain, already soaked.

Yugi followed him.

Bakura's back was turned to him as Yugi approached with squishing sneakers. Panting, Yugi couldn't think of a single thing to say. Except maybe…

"Thanks," he voiced timidly.

The white-haired figure remained motionless. "You've said that already." Picking up their conversation right where they had left off.

Yugi really was trembling now. This proved it. That voice was not Bakura Ryou's.

"I mean… for everything,"' Yugi mumbled.

The ancient spirit snorted, indelicately. "Does your other half want to murder me for what I put you through? Is that why you are here?"

Yugi hugged his own slim shoulders; it was freezing enough without the rain beating down on him. "He doesn't know. Well, he knows you assisted in his retrieval but not about… um, how."

Yami no Bakura said nothing.

Yugi wanted to see his face. He wanted Yami no Bakura to speak to him.

"I visited you in the hospital," Yugi tried, and he took a step forward.

"You visited Bakura Ryou in the hospital," the antagonist corrected.

Yugi bit his lip. "I thought… couldn't I have visited both of you?" he asked.

Yami no Bakura did not move.

"I suppose it would be your choice, who I came to see, since you can control who's out," Yugi countered his own question. "I guess I have no say in who I visit then?"

"You're being very bold," Yami no Bakura commented.

Yugi felt a little braver at that statement. "Like how you can choose who goes to school, you or him. And today you came, and… you're here now."

Yami no Bakura shrugged; tiny beads of rainwater rolled off his school uniform. "What are you trying to prove?"

Yugi didn't know. He was just talking. He wanted Yami no Bakura to talk to him. Their old conversation was whistling about in the space of his head.

Without warning, and he really should have given Yugi some kind of single or something, Yami no Bakura turned to Yugi. The ancient spirit had eyes darker than anything. "Are you shutting him at this very moment?" Yami no Bakura asked, "Or does he know that you're talking to me?"

If Yugi hadn't been so cold and wet, he might have blushed. "I have some control about what goes on in my head. He doesn't have to know everything about my day."

Yami no Bakura's eyebrows rose, cockily. "You say that now. Wait until tonight when he shifts through your memories without your knowledge." And he smirked. "You'll be able to tell cause you'll be dreaming of me."

Yugi actually felt fear at this revelation. Could he not control his mind at night? His other half would find out he had been talking to _him_? Yugi was almost scared enough to run.

Instead he blurted out, in a state of unruly panic: "Do you love him?"

Yami no Bakura had not been expecting that. His eyebrows fell back down into a glower and he looked mean again.

"I mean, your other half," Yugi clarified before Yami no Bakura could misinterpret his words. "Back… in that place, you asked me if I loved my other half." Yugi squeezed his shoulders against the steady pitter-patter of raindrops on his skull. "I was just wondering…"

Yami no Bakura stared, glaring at Yugi for a notable time.

"It would be difficult not to," he answered gruffly and the turned his whole body away.

Yugi breathed. If Yami no Bakura loved his other half too… he would understand, right?

"_You two love one another so much, and yet you have no way of gratifying your desires…"_

Yugi was afraid to ask this next question. "If you love him…" Yugi was terrified, but he had to speak, out of need. After all, who was Yami no Bakura going to tell? "Do you two try to… um, gratify your desires?"

Yami no Bakura stared incredulously at Yugi for one second and then he absolutely cackled; head turned up to the rain laden clouds.

Yugi's stomach plunged off the nearest cliff.

"_Why_?" Yami no Bakura barked, finally collecting himself. "Is that what _yours_ does to you?"

Yugi was embarrassed beyond comprehension. He and his other half didn't speak out loud about these actions together. They just did it. Speaking revealed the shame.

But Yami no Bakura stuffed his fists into his pockets and suddenly seemed much more relaxed at Yugi's exposure. He was even grinning. "How long after our meeting did you try?"

Even if it was out of his own humiliation, Yugi felt he had accomplished some ground with this thief.

"Two weeks…"

Yami no Bakura's smirk widened. "Then you two having been going on for about a month, then? How tragic."

Yugi's ears burned through the rain.

"And what kind is it? Split possession? Or fantasy?"

Yugi had never heard those terms before. "Excuse me?"

Yami no Bakura was enjoying himself. "You don't know? I suppose that makes sense. You two discovered this so recently."

Yugi was still very confused.

"Malik and his Yami were the first," Yami no Bakura noted, matter-a-factly. "The first to attempt sexual satisfaction for two souls through one body. His Yami would take control of half of Malik's body then, well… it's kind like home-style masturbation."

The way Yami no Bakura said it, without knowledge that he was revealing Yugi's darkest secret, made Yugi almost crumple in fear.

"It's tricky, or so I've heard," Yami no Bakura continued, scrutinizing Yugi as he spoke. "It's hard to split what you only have one of…"

"So you've never tried?" Yugi asked shakily.

Yami no Bakura shrugged, relaxed. "Because of our circumstances, we usually use the other method. Fantasy."

Yugi knew that by "our" and "we" the thief meant Bakura Ryou and himself.

Yami no Bakura ruffled his wet hair. "It's not hard. One half draws upon a sexual memory and the two halves live through it together. It takes a lot of concentration and a stable control of the mind."

Yugi was lost in his own thoughts. 'Both Bakura-kun and Malik-kun do this too? So we're not alone.' Yugi touched the puzzle around his neck unconsciously.

Yami no Bakura grinned, his attention increasing on Yugi's scrawny body. "Which method is to your darker half's liking?"

Yugi trembled. But he gained nothing by lying. "The- the first one…" he admitted shamefully.

Yami no Bakura positively glowed with smugness. "How crude."

Yugi winced. "It's not his fault!" he found himself squeaking. "We don't- have any sexual memories…"

Yugi realized the implications only after he said this.

Yami no Bakura was no longer smiling. "I see…"

Yugi panicked. "No. I didn't mean that you- I can't use- yours- ours. I can't because…"

"It wasn't enjoyable?" Yami no Bakura suggested dryly.

"No!" Yugi cried. Too loudly.

Yami no Bakura continued to stare, eyes half-lidded. "No?"

"I can't use it because…" Yugi swallowed. "A lot was going on at that time… we were distracted. I wasn't very…" Yugi paused and the rain did not stop the burning in his face, "I wasn't very good."

Yami no Bakura stared and with a bland expression as he said, "Isn't that for me to decide?"

Yugi froze. God, he hoped he wouldn't get excited. Not now. Not in front of this ancient spirit _again_. "I-I- we were trying to escape. We were only _pretending_ to… you know."

Yami no Bakura's grin returned. "Yes. I know."

Embarrassment stung, and Yugi moved a step away for his own protection. "Mou hitori no boku has no memory."

Yami no Bakura shrugged. "Too bad for you. He probably got laid many fantastic times as a Pharaoh."

Yugi burned. "Is that where you get the fantasies that you share with Bakura-kun?"

"No, I barely remember anything from that time. I had a rendezvous with Malik for just that purpose."

Yugi gaped. He and Malik had- they had _done it_! Just to test out a theory? Just for- for _curiosity_? How could Bakura remain so casual when talking about _this_ kind of subject?

Yami no Bakura didn't noticed Yugi's reaction. Or at least pretended not to, which was oddly kind of him. "His Yami got quite steamed, which is why they only do the split possession method. That guy gets so damn jealous. Also they think the pain and frustration that comes with the split possession method builds on the sexual desire."

That was more than Yugi needed to know.

Yami no Bakura turned away, losing interest in Yugi's expressions. "That's the down side of the fantasy technique. Memories can only be revisited, not reinvented so it gets very boring after a while."

Yugi felt it was his turn to speak. But he didn't want to. This would have been a perfect tangent. But Yugi was too scared. "And what does your other half think about these… encounters?"

There was a pause that Yugi had not expected. So he looked up and saw Yami no Bakura gazing off into the dark gloomy sheets of rain.

His dark eyes were… not hard. Yugi didn't know what to make of it.

"He thinks it's all a dream. Which is fine," Yami no Bakura said.

'Which is fine?' Yugi repeated. That didn't sound like something Yami no Bakura would say.

The two of them remained speechless as the wind blew currents of rain their way. Yugi was getting more nervous by the second. He wanted Yami no Bakura to talk more, to talk to him.

"Mou hitori no boku doesn't like our current situation," Yugi began. "He thinks it's sinful, in a way."

Yami no Bakura snorted. "That is because he is so traditional. And he wouldn't like the other method because that requires sleeping around, right?"

Yugi nodded, head bowed.

"And… what do you think?" Yami no Bakura asked suddenly.

Yugi put a clammy wet hand to his chest.

Yami no Bakura turned once more and even took a couple steps toward Yugi. The teenage boy flinched; there was no way Yugi could meet the dark spirit's eye now.

"What? Where has all your courage gone, Yugi-kun?" Yami no Bakura teased.

Yugi had to look away. "I don't like what we're doing now…"

"And?"

Yugi hesitated. Was Yami no Bakura asking if Yugi wanted to…

Yugi really was going to get excited if he wasn't careful. "I love mou hitori no boku."

Yami no Bakura did not speak.

Yugi knew what the answer was but he couldn't say it. The rain pounded on Yugi's ears. And then the bell sounded the end of lunch. Yugi looked at Yami no Bakura who was looking at him. Intensely. Prickles danced on the back of his neck. Yugi's body was defying the laws of nature.

"I can't do anything mou hitori no boku doesn't like," Yugi answered finally.

The dark spirit, yet not-his dark spirit, scoffed. "How loyal of you."

The thief was patronizing him.

Yugi felt sick. So he turned away from Yami no Bakura and speed off through the downpour of water and into the school building.

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

"Mou hitori no boku?" Yugi asked. It was the first thing they had said to each other since the beginning of another, what was it? Split possession session.

/Aibou/

Yugi scrubbed hard at his left hand, with soap, with a hand towel, with shampoo… He had to get the smell off.

"Please don't look through my memories tonight," Yugi requested. He scratched his left palm harder with the brush, hiding his nerves.

He knew if he asked his other half would obey. But the cost of this request… was distance growing between them. Since when did they hold information from each other? Since now.

/Ok./

Yugi bowed his head as his left hand turned red under the scrub brush.

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

Yugi tried to forget about the conversation with the thief a couple days ago. But it was hard when his other half became more insistent. And the more insistent he became, the more Yugi had to hide thoughts of his and Yami no Bakura's conversation. As Yami no Yugi groped at him in school janitor closets and empty locker rooms the more Yugi had to hide thoughts of, 'Is this what I want?'

It hurt. Because both of them were so desperate to feel each other.

It got to a point when Yugi couldn't take it anymore.

"Not now," Yugi hissed. He was in class for heaven's sake! The teacher was writing math equations on the board! How could his other half think this was a good time?

But his left hand was rapidly filling up with cold.

Yugi gripped it with his right hand, as though cutting off the circulation.

'_Not_ now! I am in _class_!' Yugi screamed into his brain.

His left hand when limp.

Yugi felt guilty and embarrassed but it wasn't his fault.

The class continued.

/You're blocking your thoughts from me. /

'Yes,' Yugi thought. 'Yes, I am.'

He had become very good at blocking his thoughts nowadays.

That was the end of that conversation.

* * *

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

* * *

Woah. Intensity. Yugi really doesn't know what to do with himself, does he? Poor kid. Yeah, you all thought it would be cool to have another personality in your head, didn't you? Yeah, not so glorious now, is it? Worse than a long-distance relationship.

Oh, those silly Yamis and their creativeness.

As always please **REVIEW**!! Some strange stuff happens next chapter. Then again this whole story is strange.

**REVIEW!!**


	3. When I Want You, Want to Do You

One reason why I like this story is that it doesn't waste time. Not like my epic fics, Padded Cells and Contamination, where it takes FOREVER for ANYTHING to HAPPEN! Plot's good, and I have plot! Really I do have plot. And characterization.

So yeah. Stuff happens in this chapter. Don't get too shocked. Or do. Whatever's better.

**Remember**, this f-ing format won't let me put a question mark and a slash next to each other, CONCLUSION: Yami no Yugi is incapable of asking questions, which may or may not reflect his character... think about it.

* * *

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

**Chyaputa 3: When I Want You, Wanna Do You**

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

* * *

"How was your test, Yugi-kun?" Bakura Ryou asked Yugi as they both stumbled into the locker room late. The coach would burn them alive for this once they got out on the field. 

Yugi shrugged. "Awful. But it's almost the end of the semester, right? Soon it will be a clean slate."

Bakura Ryou nodded as he let his uniform pants fall of his pale legs. "I suppose."

Yugi looked forcefully at his locker when he took off his jacket. And then his Sennen Puzzle.

Bakura Ryou stared. "You're taking your puzzle off?"

Yugi looked back at his friend with a smile. "I have to. I can't run the track with it. It's too heavy. Besides coach might confiscate it if I wear it."

"Yes," Bakura Ryou agreed. "And you wouldn't want to loose it."

Yugi's stomach twisted into horrible, gruesome knots. He could have thrown up but resisted the impulse.

Bakura Ryou stuffed his uniform shirt and pants obliviously into his locker.

Yugi tried not to look at Bakura Ryou as he rapidly stripped off the rest of his school clothes and changed into his gym uniform.

He had to change quickly. Quicker than Bakura Ryou.

"Well, see you out there," Yugi called, ignoring Bakura Ryou's bewildered face. Yugi dashed out of the locker room as fast as he possibly could.

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

"It's _gone_! How?" Jounouchi exclaimed as he, Yugi, and Honda examined the gym locker lacking one ancient gold Item.

"But the Sennen Puzzle has the other Yugi inside of it!" Honda cried.

Yugi didn't have to pretend to look frightened, because he was.

'I'm so stupid. Why did I think this would work?' Yugi demanded himself.

"Someone must have stolen it! Bastards!" Jounouchi growled, now in vicious threaten-my-best-friend-and-I'll-rip-you-apart mode.

Yugi couldn't speak. He didn't know what to say.

Honda looked wildly around the locker room. "We can round these people up, look in their bags."

Jounouchi punched his hand satisfactorily. "Don't worry, Yugi. We'll get your Puzzle back."

Yugi was speechless and sick.

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

There was no point in staying at school. Honda and Jounouchi were rampaging about the hallways, cornering boys outside and inside of classes, determined to find his Puzzle.

Unfortunately, the perpetrator had already left school. Yugi had seen him skip out early. So Yugi had ditched his overly-caring friends to follow this thief to his residence.

Oddly enough it was an apartment building.

Oddly enough "Bakura Ryou" was the name on the door.

Yugi was not feeling healthy. Not at all. He raised his hand to knock but his hand would not fall.

'This is crazy,' Yugi told himself. 'I can't go in alone. Why did I ever leave that locker open? Why am I so stupid?'

Yugi didn't have to knock however. Because the door opened for him.

And on the other side of Yami no Bakura, leaning against the frame, with Yugi's Sennen Puzzle dangling on a silver chain from one of his tantalizing pale hands.

"Looking for this?"

Yugi gulped. He was too nervous. He couldn't go through with this. He wouldn't. "Bakura-kun…"

Yami no Bakura smirked. "Why don't you come in? Settle down on a coach?"

Yugi had to. To get his Puzzle back, of course.

So Yugi sat on the coach and Yami no Bakura slid the door to a close and there was the click of the lock like a clench on Yugi's throat.

The ancient thief spirit walked over and sat on the coach as well, quite close to where Yugi was sitting.

"Come, Yugi-kun, we're being very quite," Yami no Bakura cooed. The chain of the Sennen Puzzle was wrapped around his fingers. "Aren't you going to threaten me? Bargain with me? Beg?"

Yugi was as weak and as spindly as toothpicks. "Please, can I…"

Yugi was shoved backwards, then Yami no Bakura was on top of him. Mouths connected. And a little explosion happened inside of Yugi as his lips met teeth and that solid body slammed down upon him. There was that taste in Yugi's mouth. One he had missed.

Then it all turned sour.

As Yugi reached for the head above him, the pair of arms that had been pinning him to the couch thrust him off of it. His mouth was ripped away from Yami no Bakura's.

Yugi hit the floor and lay crumpled upon it. Yami no Bakura was breathing heavily.

"You weren't supposed to enjoy that," Yami no Bakura growled spitefully.

Yugi didn't answer.

"Here." A heavy object landed barely passed Yugi's skull. "Take that junk and get out."

Yugi was confused. Yami no Bakura had just thrown the Sennen Puzzle at him. This was too easy. He sat up. "But…"

Yami no Bakura was livid. "_What_?" he spat. "Why aren't you leaving? You have your Puzzle, now _go_!"

Yugi didn't even move. "Why are you angry?"

Yami no Bakura's face twisted and he almost looked ugly. "I don't like being used."

Yugi gaped. "I'm not… why would I…?"

Yami no Bakura stood up and his height was so impressive that Yugi felt like he was disintegrating. "This is the way you planned it, right? Come late to gym so you and my other half are alone. Leave your Puzzle vulnerable so that I would take it. So you could be alone with me, without your other half in my apartment, _right_?"

Yugi bowed his head in shame. "I thought you would like…"

Yami no Bakura was disgusted. "Get out."

But Yugi was not planning on leaving just yet. "When we talked… you told me about the two methods. Said that the fantasy technique got boring. I thought you were insinuating that… you needed a new memory…"

The thief was not impressed. "You assume a lot."

"You did it with Malik…" Yugi pointed out lamely.

"And now you want me to fuck you? Is that it?"

Yugi flinched. He didn't have to be so harsh.

Yami no Bakura scoffed and walked away, irritation fuming off his shoulders. "If you don't even have the courage to say you want it, you can't expect me to force you."

"Is that because you care for my well-being?" Yugi asked. Then he realized what he had just said and clamped both of his hands over his mouth.

'Shit!' he exclaimed to himself

Yami no Bakura glared at him. Hard and meanly. "Because sex with a confused teenager sucks."

Yugi's face must have been glowing in the dark.

The spirit turned away. "Get out. You don't even know what you're doing."

Yugi hesitated. Perhaps this wouldn't work. Perhaps he had braved the day without acknowledgement of his goal.

But he was here now. And Yami no Bakura was here.

Yugi gulped some air before speaking. "I want to experiment."

Yami no Bakura was stubbornly not looking at him.

Yugi put a hand to his face. His skin was hot. "Mou hitori no boku, he's having such a hard time. I just want to…"

The silence was devastating.

"I want to do something for him. Give him a good memory…"

Yami no Bakura emerged from his isolation. "An interesting idea."

Yugi nodded and squeezed his eyes shut. "So I'm doing this for him. And its works out for you too, for your fantasy technique? You did save mou hitori no boku…"

"So…?" the thief inquired. "What did you have in mind?"

Yugi felt the heat rise and then swirl in him. Yami no Bakura wanted Yugi to spell it out for him.

"I thought I could… do stuff with you… good stuff."

There was an arm on his waist. Yugi's eyes flashed open.

Yami no Bakura was standing directly in front of him, barely an inch away. "Good stuff?" His voice was light and playful. "Like what…?"

Yugi was getting very hot and very excited. The member in his pants stretched. "Anything."

The thief considered this. "I suppose I could do you this one last favor, if it will help to bring you and your other half closer." Yami no Bakura slammed their bodies together. "Just don't get sentimental. If you're not careful you'll fall for me."

Yugi didn't take that sentence seriously. He was too busy feeling his growing erection hit the bump at the front of Yami no Bakura's pants. This was a sensation he had never felt before.

Yugi gasped.

"You do get excited very easily… I remember that," Yami no Bakura noted.

Then he nudged his groin into Yugi's purposely.

Yugi gasped again. His hands grabbed Yami no Bakura's shoulders.

Yami no Bakura laughed. "Relax. Lean back and think of your precious darker half."

He tore Yugi off and flung him on the couch. Yugi was really really excited. He couldn't stop it as Yami no Bakura descended upon him in a kiss. Yugi liked kisses. They tasted wonderful. They were wet. Teeth hurt. Yugi grabbed the back of Yami no Bakura's head, urging him on.

"You can't get too enthusiastic," Yami no Bakura advised, pulling the tiniest bit away from Yugi's desperate mouth. "We want to make it last. Let me control."

Yugi breathed and settled back in the couch. Yami no Bakura pulled up Yugi's shirt and tugged it off.

"Do you want me to call you aibou?" Yami no Bakura growled and he crouched over Yugi to suck and bite his neck.

Yugi chose to answer in light moans. He had never felt this before, a mouth upon his neck… upon his chest. Yami no Bakura teased the pink buds on Yugi's chest with his teeth. This was something his other self could not do. And it felt amazing.

Yugi opened his mouth. "H-harder." He really wanted to feel this.

Yami no Bakura chuckled against him and made his tiny nibbles into playful bites.

Yami no Bakura had reached the line of his pants. Yugi had already made quite a bit of progress on his own down there…

With one flick of the thief's nimble fingers, Yugi's pants were unzipped. Yugi squeaked; his hands curled up near his head, out of the way. Yugi couldn't help but allow Yami no Bakura full access to every part of him. He felt loose, like clay, like children's playdough.

"This is the fun part," Yami no Bakura assured him with a grin. With a smirk that made Yugi quiver.

The pants were pulled to Yugi's knees. Yami no Bakura snaked his hand down and Yugi winced, spasmed with anticipation.

Yami no Bakura had cool calloused hands.

Yugi's sweaty, chubby fingers hooked trembling behind his ears.

Everything was concentrated down there now. His rushing, dizzying blood, his attention, his pleasure, his agony. This felt totally different from how his other self did it. For one it was at a different angle and Yugi had control of all his limbs. For another Yami no Bakura was much more experienced.

A wave of muscle began on Yugi's neck, another at his feet; the two tremendous flows raced over his defenseless body and crashed over his groin. In Yami no Bakura's commanding hands.

Yugi cried out, pinching his own earlobes.

Yami no Bakura was pleased.

This was suffering. Yugi couldn't keep still. His body was being overwhelmed by a great need, a fantastic need! Yugi grasped with each breath. His knees shook with delight. His feet kicked in their sneakers.

"You think this is exciting?" Yami no Bakura growled, his voice nestling at the back of his throat. "Wait for the climax."

Yugi didn't think he could.

Until Yugi's delirious eyes, peering over his expanding ribs, saw Yami no Bakura's mass of white hair lean down…

A very wet mouth tasted the end of Yugi's struggling member.

Yugi's diaphragm collapsed, all the air flew out of his lungs, throat, mouth…

Yami no Bakura lifted his head once more to smirk cat-like, like a supreme being. "Like that?"

Yugi yelped.

Yami no Bakura chuckled like Satan before his mouth lowered for a second time to scoop up Yugi's fragile erection, tongue cushioning the landing of the swollen tip.

Yami no Bakura swallowed him, again, and again, and again. And Yugi screamed, back curling.

This was… this was… this was… something no one else could do.

Yugi was crying tearlessly, air blasting passed his teeth. Yami no Bakura's mouth was wet, delicious, and wet. And hot. Shit hot. Fuck hot. Muscles flexed and bunched, causing Yugi's pelvis to jerk into that hot and wet cavity. The antagonist's hands pounced on Yugi's hips and clung him to the couch.

Pain and desire and pure sex built up in Yugi's poor bruised member until it became too strong and too demanding…

Everything erupted and Yugi shrieked

Once again, for only the second time in his life, Yugi drained of all, anything. His body fell onto the couch and molded.

Yugi's throat was sore.

Then a soaked cough. Yugi managed to lift his head to observe Yami no Bakura, shoulders hunched, stomach heaving, spit white mess onto his own carpet.

Expectedly, the new found vacancy in Yugi's core was filled with shame.

Yugi opened his dry dry mouth to reach out to his partner in crime… Then realized that his partner had no name.

"Hey…" Yugi called lamely. He was concerned.

Yami no Bakura turned wiping his mouth. "Sweet." And there was another dangerous smirk.

Apparently there was no need for concern.

"You're- ok?" Yugi asked, voice still croaky.

Yami no Bakura pulled himself off the floor, face sweaty and hot. "Except for your attempt to choke me with that thrust."

Yugi put his innocent hands to his face, failing to hide from the monster of embarrassment. "Sorry-"

"You can make it up to me."

And Yugi didn't understand that statement until Yami no Bakura fell on him like a tree, straddling the smaller teenager's legs.

"Ready?" the antagonist inquired.

Yugi gaped, shocked "We're not done?"

Yami no Bakura cocked his magnificent head to the side. "Done? How selfish of you."

And he cut off Yugi's protests by snatching up the boy's wrist and, against Yugi's will, pressed the boy's small hand on the thief's engorged groin.

Fear of that hard object actually drove the embarrassment from Yugi's head. "But-but- I don't know-"

"Then," and Yami no Bakura leaned down very, very close and kissed Yugi sweetly on the mouth, "You'll learn, won't you _aibou_?"

The next maneuver happened so fast, and Yugi was still exhausted from his own experience, that he let Yami no Bakura flip him over onto this stomach, exposing his poor naked butt to the air.

"What are you doing!?" Yugi cried, mouth full of musty couch. He was terrified.

"Yugi-kun, I'm aware that this is your first time but you must know how two males have sex," Yami no Bakura mused smugly.

"Sex?" Yugi screamed. "I-I-I didn't say sex!"

There was the sound of pants unzipping behind Yugi. "Now, now, you know I've been doing all the work so far, aibou-kun. Did you not say you wanted to pay me back?"

"No!" Yugi screamed, fists and legs thrashing. "I can't! Stop!"

"You came here," Yami no Bakura reminded him, grabbed a handful of Yugi's hair and leaning down upon his prey. "_You_ came to _me_."

"I can't have sex!" Yugi shrieked, struggling and pounding at the hand holding down his head. "Please stop! I _can't_!"

There was a cool calloused hand on Yugi's ass… "You really don't have to do anything. Just be-"

"_It's not only my body_!" Yugi shrieked. "Isn't it? Isn't it?"

That made Yami no Bakura start; Yugi could tell because he felt his predator pause.

"Bakura Ryou said that!" Yugi cried and tears were squeezing out of his shut eyes.

A blow of sour breath; Yami no Bakura snorted nastily behind Yugi's ear. "I know what he said." And then the thief rolled off Yugi's back onto the floor with a thump.

Yugi felt cold. So he pulled up his boxers and pants and closed his zipper. He realized he was shirtless.

'I was practically _naked_…' Yugi told himself incredulously, curling himself protectively into the crevasse of the couch. He was too nervous and too shaky to look for wherever the thief tossed his T-shirt.

Meanwhile, Yami no Bakura had also zipped up his pants but his erection was still protuberant through the clothing. All of his features were rigid.

Yugi hesitated. He had mixed feelings, guilt, terror, lust… He knew Yami no Bakura was angry.

Yugi wetted his chapped lips to speak. "I can't have sex… not without mou hitori no boku. It wouldn't be fair-"

"Shut up," Yami no Bakura cursed. His words were biting.

Yugi flinched. He was afraid. He had almost been raped, after all, but he also… thought knew what Yami no Bakura was feeling. Somehow.

"I'm sorry," Yugi apologized meekly.

"Get out," Yami no Bakura cursed without a stir. He was motionless.

Nervously, Yugi eyed the dark spirit's erection still valiantly protruding out into the open.

"I really am sorry…" Yugi gulped.

In the silence that followed, Yugi actually thought Yami no Bakura would attack him, violently, not sexually.

Instead. "Get. Out."

Mind blank, for he knew it was time for him to leave, Yugi scrambled for his golden Sennen Puzzle and stumbled out the door. Once he reached the sidewalk, Yugi realized he was still shirtless.

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

Yugi got home late but managed to slip passed his grandfather and mother without notice.

And he only put on the Sennen Puzzle after he had put on another shirt.

His other self was, obviously, very concerned.

/What happened, aibou? You were gone for so long. And I thought I felt someone else's hands…/

Yugi lay back on his carpet floor. Drained of fluid. "I'm not sure. A kid took it in gym class, I think. But I found it eventually." Yugi couldn't bring himself to sound more grateful

His darker half hesitated. /Oh. /

"It's nothing, mou hitori no boku. Just a silly prank," Yugi insisted.

/How long was I missing/

Yugi shrugged, tips of his fingers tracing the eye on the golden pyramid. "Just till the end of school."

/Did you miss your classes?/

Yugi frowned. "What do you mean?"

/Just wondering…/

Yugi sat up, thinking he understood; his other self was easy to read.

"I looked for you, mou hitori no boku," Yugi repeated.

/I know you did./

Yugi swallowed and that reminded him of his sore throat.

His secrets were stacking up.

Yugi sat on his bedroom floor for a long while and all he did during that time was struggle not to think about… what had happened that afternoon. If he thought about it, his other self would know…

"I've got a lot of homework tonight," Yugi announced brightly and he jumped to his heels. "Math is a killer."

/I bet./

Yugi grabbed his back pack from the floor and dug out some binder and some text book and read and calculated and busied himself.

Until his left hand started getting numb and tingly.

Yugi felt sick.

What should he do? What could he do? He let it go, let the pencil drop and bounce off his notes.

God, he was going to be sore in the morning.

And as the hand sunk to his waist, Yugi felt hiccups in his chest. He didn't like this feeling. These hiccups. These broken gasps of not-sex.

/Aibou/

Yugi grabbed his chest with his living hand.

/Aibou/

The foreign, not-his hand touched his cheek.

/You're crying./

No, he couldn't be. Not when he was with his other self. The one he loved. The one who knew everything about him. The one who loved him.

The hiccups wouldn't stop.

'_Idiot_!' Yugi screamed in.

An arm that-was-not-his wrapped itself around his shoulders, attempting to provide him with some makeshift protection.

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

Their sessions of desperate not-sex stopped entirely.

* * *

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

* * *

INTENSITY! 

Yeah... the /Aibou/ s needed to be Aibou? s. Could you tell? Do you even know what the hell I'm talking about?

Still can't believe I wrote this. This is so not me. But I do love it. It's tragic. So human. So much of Yami no Bakura being awesome.

YUGI NEEDS HUGS!! He's not a slut. He's just confused. They're all confused. And Bakura's not trying to be a heartless, perverted asshole… He's not. Seriously.

And Yami no Yugi and Ryou are just innocent bystanders. Love those guys. REALLY!

**REVIEW!**


	4. On this Dark Day, Right in Plain View

No scenes for the weak of heart in this chapter. Just lots of awkward moments and subtle hinting… and Ryou. I LOVE RYOU!! And Atemu's in here too but I like Ryou more… who doesn't? Well… maybe Yugi, but no one else.

I played soccer. But I was at one of those tiny schools where they needed as many players as they could get so I was on the team even though I sucked ass, poorly. But I should have played more because it was fun. Sometimes…

* * *

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

**Chyaputa 4: On this Dark Day, Right in Plain View**

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

* * *

Yami no Bakura didn't come to school anymore.

But Bakura Ryou's smile was still very nice.

"Hey Yugi-kun."

Yugi looked up and started at that head of white hair. "B-Bakura-kun."

Bakura Ryou blinked as he sat down beside Yugi with his plastic cafeteria tray. "You're so jumpy nowadays."

Yugi flinched. "I suppose. How's life?"

Bakura Ryou shrugged modestly. "Fine." He rolled an apple in his pale hands and Yugi tried not to watch. "Actually, I've been having these really weird dreams."

Yugi bit his lip and looked away. "Really…?" He remembered what Yami no Bakura said about his lighter half's dreams.

Bakura Ryou bit into his apple and chew it for a while. "Yugi?"

Yugi was surprised at the drop of the usual suffix. "Y-yeah."

Then his fellow classmate with the white hair leaned in very close. "Can I tell you something?"

Yugi was a little afraid at this. "Yes?"

Bakura Ryou lowered his voice. "I think I might be gay."

That was kinda weird.

"Oh," Yugi answered nodding.

Bakura Ryou looked expectant. "Is that ok?"

Yugi sucked his tongue. "Sure."

They ate a fine lunch after that with good conversation and everything until…

"Do you think Malik is… good looking?" Bakura Ryou asked. "I've always thought so."

This was ridiculous. And to think, that was the same mouth that had… swallowed his…

Undoubtedly that antagonist was watching their conversation from the inside of Bakura Ryou's brown eyes.

So Yugi laughed. A lot.

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

It happened at dinner time. Surrounded by his mother and his wrinkly grandfather; underneath the rim of the table, desired to be seen. All because of his silly mother…

"You seem to be hanging out with Bakura a lot these days," she had said.

'Fuck,' Yugi cursed, his fork clattering to a noisy landing on his plate.

"Well, I think that's a good thing," his grandfather added, jolly like a freaking Santa. "He's a nice boy."

Bakura? _Nice_? Really? Yes, a very very nice boy…

That's when it happened.

His pants were suddenly very tight across his groin.

'Not again…' Yugi moaned. 'I thought I was done with these.'

His other self took pity on him and chose not to comment. He had always been so considerate.

"He's never had a lot of friends," his mother continued with vegetables in her teeth. "I wonder why. He's so polite."

Polite? Yugi started coughing.

"You ok?" his grandfather and his mother inquired concerned.

That erection was very distracting. Yugi had to get rid of it.

"I got something-" Yugi coughed again. "I got something- caught in my throat-"

His mother handed him a glass of water.

Yugi shook his head as his blood rushed out of his brain, down to his member. "I got to-" he gestured upstairs.

His family urged to go and Yugi twisted in his chair so that his back was always facing them as he rushed up the stairs. He ran into his bathroom, his entire body pounding. Now how to get rid of it…

"Shit," Yugi cursed and unzipped his pants.

/Aibou/

Yugi pretended he hadn't heard his other half speak. He tore off all his clothes but, and he didn't know why, left the Sennen Puzzle on his neck. He turned on the water for the shower and then, taking a deep breath, immediately jumped into the freezing spray. Yugi squeaked and shivered but his erection couldn't stand up to the icy current. And when it had gone, the rest of Yugi's body relaxed along with it, dangling. But he stayed in the cold shower for a couple more minutes just to be certain.

/ I'm sorry, aibou./

Yugi turned his face up to the shower head and let the liquid bathe him in numbing cold. "It's not your fault, mou hitori no boku. I'm a teenager. It happens."

/But I was the one who first initiated our… /

Yugi sucked in a breath. "It doesn't matter. We both agreed on it. We both… kinda wanted it."

His other self hesitated. This was the first time they had ever voiced shame for their previous actions.

Yugi eventually got out of the shower, put on his clothes and, since he didn't want food anymore, went to his room. As he walked he felt the guilt echo out from his other half's mind. Yugi sighed, cause he knew that it had actually been him who had started all this.

So Yugi closed his bedroom door and locked it.

'Mou hitori no boku?' he called.

/What is it, aibou?/

Yugi lay down on his bed. He could feel the shock from his darker half.

'Meet me inside.'

/Ok./

As Yugi rested his head back on his pillow, his consciousness fell down into the room of his soul. It was cluttered with toys and puzzles; Yugi tried not to notice how unused and dusty his toys looked. As he woke up in a fake body of illusion, he saw his other half standing awkwardly in his doorway; the pharaoh's eyes were shifting reds.

For there was a mischievous single bed in the middle of Yugi's soul room that definitely hadn't been there before.

/Aibou, I don't understand./ His other self was wary of the bed and perhaps, Yugi thought, a little afraid.

But Yugi held out his hand. 'I know what I'm doing. Come here.'

His other half, red eyes wide and concerned, took the hand and followed Yugi down onto the mattress. His darker half rigidly lay on the bed, his body awkward and flat.

/Aibou, I don't think this is wise./

Yugi pulled his other half close. 'I want to do this, mou hitori no boku. Please, don't fear for me right now.'

The spirit of the Sennen Puzzle nodded and finally turned his body to accept Yugi's affection. /What do you want to do, aibou?/

Yugi smiled, he hoped sweetly. 'Open your mind to me.' and he took the pharaoh's head in his pale hands.

His other self was confused; Yugi could feel it across their link. But he very trustingly closed his eyes and opened their bond.

Yugi shivered. He really hoped this would work.

What had that thief said?

"_It's not hard. One half draws upon a sexual memory and the two halves live through it together. It takes a lot of concentration and a stable control of the mind."_

Yugi reached for the memory of an unnamed hand on his face and gave it to his other half.

His dark half's eyelids flickered.

Yugi sighed. 'Good, ok.'

He searched for the memory of a hand on his chest and passed it through their link.

/Aibou/

'Shhh…' Yugi shushed. He felt warm. His plan was working. If only he could make it last…

Yugi wanted more hands but as he searched through his memories, the memories of him and his other half's old sessions, he felt an odd sense of regret and… disgust? Yugi shuddered. There was nothing disgusting about his other half.

The memories of him and Yami no Bakura however…

'No,' Yugi thought too loudly.

/Aibou/ his other self asked curiously.

Yugi shushed him again. He had to work fast. He didn't want his other self to get suspicious by hesitating. But he also didn't want his darker half to see Yami no Bakura in those memories.

What if he edited them? He could control these memories, right? If he just edited Yami no Bakura out…

Yugi tried. He focused on the memory of Yami no Bakura's mouth – _crouched over… to suck and bite his neck_ – and mixed it with the memory of his darker half's hand on his neck.

Tentatively, Yugi passed this broken memory along to his other half.

The spirit of the Sennen Puzzle's chest rose like a suppressed breath as he consumed it. And there was a tiny noise at the back of his throat.

Yugi knew he was enjoying it.

Next was Yami no Bakura's sucking mouth on his chest. – _tease the pink buds on …'s chest with his…_ – morphed turn his other self's nails catching on his nipples.

The pharaoh gasped at that. Unexpectedly, a hand jumped and grabbed Yugi's shoulder, gripping it in haste. The spirit's eyes were firmly shut.

Yugi was happy because his other self was enjoying this; he could tell because the spirit's body was now restless. He reached for his darker half's other shoulder and moved the illusions of their two bodies closer together. 'Ready?'

His darker half gripped Yugi's shoulder hard and Yugi knew that was a yes.

But this part was hard. How could anyone replace his small stubby fingers with the feel of Yami no Bakura's cool strong grip? Would his other self believe it?

Yugi would have to edit out the feeling of that magnificent hand. Instead he concentrated on the feeling of – _rushing, dizzying blood_ – His groin as the focal point of – _his attention, his pleasure, his agony…_

The pharaoh squirmed and moaned through a clamped mouth. His body twisted. Because Yugi was so close to him already, their bodies somehow ended up pressing against each other and through that metaphysical touch, Yugi felt that edited memory bounce back at him with all its glory…

The sensation had caught both souls in its trap, causing them to clutch at each other in Yugi's past moment of ecstasy.

/Ai-bou-/ The name was gasped.

_A wave of muscle began on Yugi's neck, another at his feet; the two tremendous flows raced over his defenseless body and crashed over his groin. In…… 's commanding hands…_

They were delving into that memory too well, too thoroughly. This was going too fast for him to properly control. Yugi shivered at the thought that his other half might figure out…

Panicking, Yugi pushed the spirit of the Puzzle away. His darker self fell back on the manifestation of the bed in Yugi's soul room, his lungs mocking the need to breathe. Yugi's memory must have still been fresh in his mind.

Yugi brushed his bangs back nervously, waiting for the pharaoh to collect himself.

/Who…/

Yugi rotated his head. 'What, mou hitori no boku?'

His darker half looked so beautifully calm, his expression smooth; his eyes were still closed. /Who was in that memory, aibou/

Dread stabbed Yugi in the ribs. 'What do you mean? It was you and me.'

The spirit of the Puzzle opened his eyes to the ceiling. /Really/

Yugi swallowed and turned away. Was his other self suspecting something? 'Of course.' Sexual arousal must not have been the only thing Yugi learned from the thief. Since when had he been so composed when lying?

/I didn't think…/ His darker half leaned back over to Yugi, laying an arm across his lighter half's queasy stomach. /I didn't think,/ the pharaoh was speaking into his ear, voice rich/You enjoyed what we did…/

Yugi rolled to face his darker half and found the ancient spirit's expression solemn. 'I love you.'

His darker half looked into Yugi's eyes and for a second Yugi feared that he could see everything, maybe he did. /I know. I love you too. /

Yugi leaned his head forward to kiss the mirage of the ancient Egyptian's mouth. But there was no kiss, nothing but air. And Yugi couldn't give Atemu that memory of a real flesh kiss because how would he explain where that other pair of lips came from?

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

"Man, Yugi. You and Bakura are spending a lot of time together!"

Yugi gave his face a look of puzzlement. "What do you mean?"

Jounouchi frowned, mouth hard. "Come on, we never see you anymore, Yugi! Yesterday we invited you to a movie and you said you had other plans!"

Yugi blinked. "I did have other plans."

"You went to the arcade!" Jounouchi cried.

"Yes…?" Yugi said uneasily.

"Why didn't you tell us? We could have all gone," Jounouchi accused.

Yugi leaned his cheek on his palm. "But you were going to the movies."

Jounouchi had an angry spasm so Honda took over. "We always go to the arcade together. We can see a movie any day but we wanted to go somewhere with you, dude!"

Yugi smiled. "Sorry, guys. My bad."

The two guys gave each other exasperated looks. Jounouchi was fed up. "God!" So he stormed away.

"Yugi," Anzu leaned down close to him, "You and Bakura-kun have been together a lot these days. Is there… some sort of reason?"

Yugi bit his lip. "I don't think so."

Anzu looked disappointed. "So you two aren't dating?"

"No," Yugi answered and he tried to be good natured about it but it came out rather harsh.

When his friends went off and left him in the classroom alone Yugi did feel bad about it. He just knew he couldn't help it. Hanging out with Bakura and ignoring his friends had been completely unintentional. So when their gym teacher had them divide up into teams for soccer, Yugi made an effort to be on Bakura's team. Because. Just because.

"You know what's really weird?" Bakura Ryou asked as he kicked dirt with his sneakers.

"What?" Yugi asked as he watched Jounouchi and Honda beat their opponents senseless with their double team attack on the goal; the ball would not reach Bakura Ryou and Yugi for a while.

"I think I'm having the same dream every night," Bakura Ryou noted. "Mostly the same anyway. Little things change, sometimes."

"Yeah, weird." Yugi looked at his shoes. "By the same you mean…"

"Always gay sex? Yes," Bakura Ryou answered simply, running a hand through his hair. "It's sad, but it getting old."

"Who knew sex could get old," Yugi commented, nervously. And he eyed the teenager beside him, scrutinizing his features for any sign of the other Bakura but there was nothing.

"That's what I thought," Bakura Ryou agreed with a shrug.

Yugi sighed in disappointment.

"You know what else is odd…" Bakura Ryou thought out loud. "I think all these dreams might be coming from the spirit of the Ring."

Yugi physically jumped, he was that shocked. How could he guess? "What gave you that idea?"

Bakura Ryou shrugged. "He's in them, my dreams. I think he tries to hide himself but he's totally in them."

Yugi shook his head. He wondered what Yami no Bakura thought of this conversation. Surely he would want to interrupt it, perhaps come out… But Yugi knew he couldn't be forgiven so easily.

When the soccer ball bounced over to their defensive side of the field, Yugi and Bakura Ryou both dove for the ball, missed, and ending up tripping each other, stumbling onto a heap on the grass.

Yugi laughed as he fell on Bakura, head slamming into the his pale friend's chest.

And for a second, Yugi could taste the scent of Bakura's body.

* * *

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

* * *

Teehee. This is my favorite Ryou, the blunt-cute-subtly-brilliant-Ryou. Much different than Ryou-who-has-a-backbone and Useless-emo-girlie-Ryou. This guy is sooooo much cooler, which is sad because this Ryou isn't the kinda of Ryou that can be a main character, because he's too perfect. It's true.

Does anybody feel for Atemu? I didn't mean to alienate him so much in this fic. He does usually get the short end of the stick.

**REVIEW!! **

Next chapter Yugi goes on a mission. Shitmothers.

**REVIEW!!**


	5. And If You Want Roses

NOTE: This chapter won't make sense if you haven't read **Kleptoshipping**, the prequel to this fic. So if you get confused about what is going on, you know why.

Yugi has never been such a pimp.

* * *

**Chyaputa 5: And If You Want Roses**

* * *

The elevator was out so the two teenagers had to climb the six flights of stairs to the apartment. Bakura's apartment.

Yugi knew this was a bad idea. He knew it and yet couldn't stop himself from walking right into it.

Bakura Ryou, panting like his classmate, twisted the key in the lock. "I guess we won't be going to the library today."

Yugi nodded, mouth dry as they entered the lonesome apartment.

Alone again. In this apartment. Yugi half expected Yami no Bakura to take control of Ryou's body the moment the door shut behind them but the white-haired teenager just turned to Yugi and said, "You want something to drink?"

Apparently the dark spirit would require a little more encouraging.

Yugi shrugged. "Sure," and then flopped down on the sofa. "What do you have?"

"Um, apple juice and water," Ryou recited, moving into the minuscule kitchenette, consisting of a three meters of counter space, a sink, a dinky stove that smoked and a oily oven.

"Apple juice?" Yugi questioned.

Bakura Ryou pulled out the golden drink from the fridge. "I don't have guests over often enough to keep anything else."

Yugi knew why Bakura Ryou didn't invite guests to his house. Yugi shouldn't even be there for that same reason.

"Then I'll take apple juice," Yugi conceded.

Ryou smiled and poured them both a mug.

Yugi's stomach quaked as he began to unpack materials. What was he going to do? Seduce the Egyptian spirit to come out? Threaten to tell Bakura Ryou about his dark half's and Yugi's little experiments? Would that scare the spirit out? Blackmail? Yugi could see the future and he was going to get slaughtered.

Ryou folded a newspaper into a makeshift coaster and sets the spotted mugs down between them.

"So I was thinking perhaps we could split the project like this, we both agree that you're going to do the PowerPoint, right? Cause my computer is inept. And I'll do the write up and the presentation."

"Thank god," Yugi moaned, examining his juice of apple. "As long as I don't have to speak in front of the class."

"You won't," Bakura Ryou picked up one of their text books and began to skim. "I'll make you hold diagrams or pass out handouts or something."

Yugi gave an appreciative grunt, rim of the mug under his nose. He could smell the overly sweet drink.

"Malik looked nice today," Bakura Ryou mentioned, in his candid, mild sort of way.

"Did he?" Yugi encouraged, somewhat reluctantly.

"He was wearing his emerald sleeveless today. Low swoop neck," Bakura Ryou continued. Yugi was never quite sure whether the boy was oblivious to Yugi's nervousness or whether he noticed and simply ignored it. Bakura Ryou, for all his bluntness, could be very hard to read.

Besides, when Bakura Ryou talked to him about guys like this, Yugi was always reminded of the other Bakura…

Why did he _always_ have to think about the other Bakura? Yugi felt so pathetic. Any other person would have woken up, realized that his silly little fascination wasn't going to go anywhere. Was that what it was? A fascination? What kind of teenager had Yugi turned into?

"Is it ok that I talk about Malik?" Bakura Ryou asked and Yugi was surprised to find the boy peering at him so intently.

"Yes! Yeah, sure," Yugi answered. "I mean, it's good for you to talk about it, right?"

Bakura Ryou smiled. "Yeah, it is. You just didn't say anything for a while… Well, I don't want to use you."

Yugi shook his head, mug trembling in his hands. "We're friends, Bakura-kun. You're gay. I'm gay. We can talk."

Bakura Ryou looked at him. "You're gay?"

Yugi bit his lip. Had he said too much? Would the other Bakura take the hint? "You didn't know?"

"I didn't want to assume," Bakura Ryou said placidly. So it wasn't a big deal. Yugi was disappointed and breathed.

"I suppose you know now," Yugi took too big of a gulp of his juice.

A thought-filled pause. Yugi was a wreck.

If that dark spirit hadn't come out after a conversation like that then it was time for drastic measures. And he was wearing one of his favorite shirts too. Yugi sighed. There were always going to be sacrifices.

Yugi lifted his mug, then bumped his arm against Ryou's elbow. The rim tipped, and gold liquid spilled all over his shirt. The face of his Sennen Puzzle dripped.

"Shit!" Yugi mocked.

"Oh, sorry!" Bakura Ryou ran for some paper towels. "Yugi-kun, I'm so sorry."

Yugi allowed the cold drink to soak through his clothing. "Don't worry. It's my fault. Really." _Really_, it was his fault.

Bakura Ryou piled fluffy paper towels onto the spill. "Better?"

"It's no big deal." Yugi gingerly stood up, pressing the mass of paper towels to his chest, the Sennen Puzzle digging unpleasantly into his flesh. "I'll clean off." And he headed for the bathroom.

Letting the paper towels fall into the trash bin, Yugi examined his ruined clothing in the mirror. It was excellent work. Now for phase two.

'Excuse me, mou hitori no boku,' Yugi called, fingers hooking around the chain of the Sennen Puzzle. 'I'm just going to clean up.'

His other half said nothing, which Yugi appreciated more than he should have. When the Puzzle was off and safely wrapped in a bath towel, Yugi removed his sugar-soaked shirt. His chest, in all its pale meekness, was exposed.

This was drastic.

Yugi turned on the faucet in the bathroom sink and dunked his shirt in the water. "So… ah, did anything else get wet? Our research stuff?" Yugi asked, making conversation in an attempt to slow down his nerves.

Bakura hadn't seen him yet and was therefore unsuspecting of Yugi's current half-clothed state. "Everything seems ok. Just some spots on the couch."

"Good," Yugi mumbled. He turned off the water, hung his shirt on towel rack. Should he go out? Let Bakura see him? Should he wait?

Yugi shook himself and strode purposefully out of the bathroom. "Well, let's get started."

Bakura looked up to see him enter, then down at his naked chest.

Yugi let the hesitation pass, studying Bakura's features, watching for any sign of a switch in personalities. Was the dark spirit already out? Was he watching from the inside? Surely he was watching.

"You're not wearing your Sennen Puzzle," Bakura Ryou mentioned.

It was Yugi's turn to hesitate. "It's sticky. I'm letting it dry."

Bakura Ryou shrugged and shifted his focus back on text book in front of him. "You seem to take it off a lot."

Yugi bit his lip. The other Bakura was not taking the bait. Why? Would this not work? Perhaps the spirit was toying with him.

Determined, Yugi sat very close to Bakura, not so close that Bakura Ryou would suspect something but still pretty close. Yugi made false conversation. "You have the notes from today?"

Bakura Ryou touched a notebook to his left. "Right here." He wasn't even looking at Yugi. What could Yugi do to make Bakura look? He had to do something.

"And these are?" Yugi reached across Bakura Ryou's field of vision to the far notebook, "accidentally" pulling his unclothed upper torso in front of Bakura Ryou's face.

"Um, your notes," Bakura Ryou said.

"Oh." Yugi should have known that. He sat back in his seat, arms at his sides. "Right."

This wasn't working. Yugi couldn't seduce a fly. It was hopeless.

"Trying to corrupt, Yadonushi? Wasn't your own virtue enough?"

Yugi jumped and stared at the Bakura next to him. Was it him? Yugi wasn't sure. It must have been. "I…"

A hand roughly grabbed Yugi's chin between its thumb and pointer. Black eyes glared at him. "What the hell are you doing?"

It was him. Definitely. Yugi's gut squeezed. He swore the scent of Bakura's body changed when the dark spirit took control. "I want to talk."

The pale eyebrows of Yami no Bakura rose. "Yes, I'm sure you want to _talk_." Yugi's face went hot under those cool fingers. Yami no Bakura was not, unfortunately, amused. "What are you doing hitting on my lighter half? Clinging to him day after day? You're disgusting."

"We're friends," Yugi said. The fingers on his face were pinching his skin uncomfortably.

"Fuck that." Yami no Bakura was really irritated.

"We are," Yugi argued. "We were friends before you came along, you know."

Yami no Bakura barred his teeth. "I've _always_ been with him."

Yugi would have rolled his eyes if Yami no Bakura had been in a better mood. "I was his friend before I started having relations with you."

"Are you referring to the first time we met, or the first time I held your cock in that castle?" Yami no Bakura growled.

Yugi gulped against Yami no Bakura's grip. He didn't want to answer that question. "I didn't want to seduce Bakura-kun. I don't think he would go for me anyway. He likes Malik, doesn't he?"

This was actually meant to strike a nerve but Yami no Bakura remained as composed as ever. "He's just eye candy."

"You're the one in his head, you should know," Yugi answered.

Yami no Bakura scowled. "Stop being a dick."

This made Yugi's breathe catch in his lungs, his throat ache.

After an awkward moment, the dark spirit let go of Yugi's face. "And." He leaned back into the couch. "What did you want to _talk_ about?" Yami no Bakura's whole pose and stature were totally different than his host's; the angled joints, the severe expressions, the way his back always seemed so straight and superior. It was hard not to tell the two apart.

Yugi breathed and then breathed again; he didn't know how to start. "I hadn't really planned this far yet…"

"Improvise," Yami no Bakura snapped harshly. He looked mean, then again he always did.

"I'm… attracted to you," Yugi dove in.

Yami no Bakura stared at him, like he was a potato or something.

Yugi bit his lip and tried again. "I tried that fantasy theory with mou hitori no boku."

This seemed to be a much more acceptable subject for the dark spirit. "Did he swoon in your hold?"

"It was hard," Yugi admitted. "I had to edit you out."

"You used _our_ memory?" Yami no Bakura questioned, brow raised again.

Yugi couldn't tell if the spirit was offended. "It was the best one."

Yami no Bakura actually paused, his lips parted. Then he continued. "That was stupid of you."

Yugi was confused. "Why?"

"You didn't come from a Sennen Item and, although you've held the Puzzle for quite some time, you know a lot less about memory control than you think," Yami no Bakura critiqued. "I doubt you were able to completely erase me from your memory."

Yugi gaped. "The whole reason you and I did- anything together was because I was going to try the fantasy technique. You knew I was. Why didn't you warn me?"

Yami no Bakura scratched his scalp. "You didn't ask."

Yugi ran a nervous hand through his bangs. "What does this mean?"

"Means your other half knows I was in that memory and that you cheated on him," Yami no Bakura said definitely.

Horror pounded at Yugi's ribs. His other half knew? Was that why he had asked Yugi all those questions after their session? Shit.

"Can't do anything about it now," Yami no Bakura did not reassure him.

"But he might not know," Yugi pleaded.

Yami no Bakura gave Yugi a look. "What do you think your pharaoh is doing with that memory you gave him? He's masturbating to it when you sleep, reexamining every fine detail to get every ounce of pleasure. And you think he wouldn't notice?"

Yugi was in denial. He could not, could _not_ think of that possibility right now. "He might not."

Yami no Bakura grunted, "Doubt it."

Yugi felt embarrassed, shameful for not seeing this problem when he shared that moment with his other half. It irritated him that Yami no Bakura could make him feel all these things. And that made him hot.

"Remember when we went to rescue mou hitori no boku from that castle?" Yugi asked, changing subjects.

Yami no Bakura's brow wrinkled, skeptical about where this subject was going. "I was there."

"You remember our pretending game? In that dungeon…" Yugi continued relentlessly.

The corner of Yami no Bakura's mouth twitched. "You freaked out."

"Yeah, well," Yugi coughed, "You were very intimidating."

"And you didn't even have to stutter to admit that," Yami no Bakura observed.

Yugi's lips tightened. Was he smiling? Actually smiling at Yami no Bakura? He hoped not.

"You kissed me," Yugi challenged, composing himself again.

Yami no Bakura was unconcerned. "As did you."

"No," Yugi shook his head. "When it was all over, when we had gotten passed all the guards and I had the Puzzle. You kissed me when you didn't need to."

It was a dangerous event to bring up. Yugi knew it was. But he had been thinking about that moment a lot. The way Yami no Bakura had not been able to look at him, the hanging, floating feeling in Yugi's stomach as he anticipated that touch…

Yami no Bakura's expression went stony.

"Why did you do that? We weren't pretending anymore…" Yugi asked in a way that he hoped sounded wondering and unaccusing.

"You liked it," Yami no Bakura argued. He was getting scary again.

Yugi put a hand to his face. "Yes. "

That was a bit shocking. Yami no Bakura turned his mighty head away, wild mane assuring that Yugi couldn't see his face.

"But why did you do it?" Yugi asked.

The ancient spirit refused to answer. He didn't curse or yell or try to kick Yugi out of his home. Did that mean he wanted Yugi to stay?

Yugi's fingers twisted around each other. He would try. After all, he had come all the way here and had managed to lure the dark spirit out into the open.

Yugi gripped his elbows; the need to hold on to something was overwhelming. "During our pretending game, don't you think we might have gone too far? Didn't you feel at least a little bit carried away? I mean, we didn't really have anyway of knowing that there was someone watching us from outside the cell."

Now he was heading for dangerous ground. Yami no Bakura's face lost its smugness. "I said we were being watched."

"I know," Yugi said.

"So are you saying I lied to seduce you?" That was a dangerous question.

Yugi hesitated. Yes. He had suspected that a long time ago. "No. What I'm trying to say is that… the willingness to accept that information was mutual." Yugi's arms hugged his body as though he had suffered a blast of cold air.

Yami no Bakura was getting madder by the second. "And why is that? Why would you so easily accept my lie, Yugi-kun? Have you secretly desired me all these years?" The words themselves sounded like a joke, but the spirit's tone was overwhelmingly cynical, threatening, as if Yugi wouldn't dare to answer these inquiries.

Yugi, however, chose to take these questions literally. "I had never thought about you in any kind of sexual sense before that moment," he admitted. Yami no Bakura's mouth got tight. "I don't know why I let you touch me at first. I wanted to save mou hitori no boku, I was willing to do anything to save him."

Yami no Bakura scoffed.

Yugi fell back onto the couch. "But it was more than that. No one has ever come onto me before. You were my first kiss…"

'My first erection, first orgasm, first ejaculation…' Yugi listed in his head.

"It must have been so disappointing for you," Yami no Bakura noted, head turned away.

"Not really," Yugi said. "Kinda exciting actually."

Yami no Bakura refused to acknowledge this.

Yugi felt his body curl into the depths of the sofa. He felt cozy, telling Yami no Bakura all of this. "I've never done stuff like that before. Never even thought about it. You opened up a new world for me."

Again, Yami no Bakura remained silent.

And here came the part that Yugi had rehearsed in his head every night for the past month.

"Maybe… maybe we both wanted that pretending game because we longed for something to touch." That sounded odd. "I mean, we both love our other halves but no matter how much we love them, or what technique we use, we can't touch them."

Yami no Bakura still had not moved.

"Maybe that last kiss, after the pretending game, after we got mou hitori no boku back, was just what it was, one last kiss. One last feel. For memory's sake," Yugi separated his hands and wiped them on his pants. "Does that make sense?"

"Yes."

Yugi jumped because he had not expected Yami no Bakura to speak. But the thief was rising to a standing position, his shape so impressing that Yugi's insides shook with fear and pleasure. His upper legs went weak.

"What you're describing is lust."

Yugi squeezed his hands. "Well… its not exactly like lust…"

Yami no Bakura scoffed and shoved his hair behind him. "Come, Yugi-kun. You want to have sex with me to satisfy your sexual frustration of not being able to touch your dear pharaoh slut, and you don't call that lust?"

Yugi thought the word slut was going a little far but he was too busy gaping to respond.

"Don't you think that is a little cheap?" Yami no Bakura questioned, leaning sideways upon the kitchen counter. His mass of white hair bringing shadows to his features. Creepy. "You should at least pay for my services, don't you think? Or is there some noble romantic reason why I should be a prostitute to you?"

The spirit was taking Yugi's words too far. This was not what he had meant at all. "No! That's not what- you're not a- you don't understand."

"Do you not want me to fuck you, Yugi?" Yami no Bakura questioned; everything about him right now was vulgar. "Did you not come here today expecting to get some?"

"That's not what I mean!" Yugi gasped. He was panicking. "I wouldn't do stuff with just anyone. But with you I- I-" Yugi gulped, voice getting choked, "I like talking to you…"

That shut Yami no Bakura up. Yugi's lungs wouldn't expand.

"You understand when I talk about mou hitori no boku. You know what its like to love someone without a body. You… you're…" Yugi got clammy and chill. "You are attractive… to me."

It was hard to read the expression on Yami no Bakura face. It was cold and yet thoughtful. And yet there was something like fear. Or perhaps disgust.

"I see," Yami no Bakura mentioned. And he sized Yugi up for a moment, examining him truly for those seconds.

Yugi didn't know what else he could say. "I love mou hitori no boku. I love him."

Yami no Bakura's mouth curled. "And you love him so much that you must take out these frustrated feelings on someone else?"

"Don't you?" Yugi asked.

Bakura ignored this. "And you believe I will suffice because you, as you say, find me attractive?"

Yugi bit his lip.

"And what exactly would I get out of this relationship?" Yami no Bakura questioned.

Yugi hesitated. "You'll have the memories for your lighter half."

"Ah, but I can get those anywhere, certainly better quality. And with someone who will actually wants to go all the way."

Yugi flinched.

"Really, you don't have t be so naïve, Yugi-kun. We aren't two regular teenagers. We aren't classmates. We're not even friends. We've done nothing but impede each other's progress in the past." Yami no Bakura was getting this conversation back into perspective and Yugi hated him for it. "I told you before. I don't like being used. Go find yourself a nice desperate girl to be your pharaoh replacement."

Yugi spoke before he could stop himself. "There is no one else."

That had been a mistake. Bakura smirked, he had the upper hand now. "Sex is physical. Only a sentimental moron like you would think that you need anything else like understanding and 'connection'."

The tips of Yugi's fingers went numb. He had foreseen this. He knew he was going to be humiliated and ultimately snubbed. So he didn't know why he was so surprised. How pathetic was it then that he sat here and let Yami no Bakura tear him to tattered pieces. Yugi had to fight back. He stood up and found stupidity like grime in his teeth as he fought to speak. "You couldn't look at me when you gave me that last kiss. And then you ran."

"I felt disgust for one last feel," Yami no Bakura retorted.

Yugi plowed on, blindly. "You told me there were people watching us outside the cell," Yugi tried. Pleaded.

Yami no Bakura did not have a trace of compassion felt in him. "Just as you said. To seduce you, obviously. I hadn't gotten any since Malik. The fantasies were getting boring."

"Why _me_?" Yugi asked.

Bakura was cold. "Because you were there."

Yugi was sick. He wanted to get out of this apartment. He had lost this battle. He had lost the war, really. Everything. He was as good as massacred. Yugi had to get out of there as fast as he could. But there was a need in him that made him hesitate. He wanted to make Yami no Bakura angry, make him yell, or scream, or _feel_. Feel something anything… He wanted to say something so profound and so true that the ancient Egyptian spirit would suddenly grow a heart. But there was nothing he could say. Because this Bakura had no weakness. He was too cunning.

Yugi's body moved before his brain could catch up; his legs extended and dropped from the couch. Stupid with fresh rejection, Yugi stumbled into the bathroom and grabbed his soaking wet shirt and, of course, his Sennen Puzzle.

Yugi was leaving, his hand was on the door knob. And all he could think of to say was. "Why does it matter?" and he leaned his forehead against the crease between the door and the wall, "Why do you care about my motives? My happiness?"

Then, before Yami no Bakura could destroy this moment too, Yugi charged out the door, throat swollen.

* * *

* * *

So many character motivations in this chapter. Seriously. This took so many drafts. I really don't know what is going on in Bakura's head. Yugi… I don't even know.

This is not the end, guys. Mwahahahaha…

**REVIEW!!**

Please.


	6. You can go buy a Bouquet

Haven't updated in a while. Been a bit busy focuses on Contamination, although I like his story better, in some ways.

Weather's getting warmer and I'm getting lazier. Lames, I know.

This chapter… rocks. Not as much as Roxas but you know what I mean.

* * *

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

**Chyaputa 6: You can go buy a Bouquet**

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

* * *

When Yugi got home that evening and was eating a traditional dinner with his mother and grandfather, he realized how much his life had changed since that first time with Bakura in that castle. Yugi was no longer the internationally known boy gaming champion. Yugi was… sexually conscious, confused adolescent. And he wasn't quite sure if hated the change yet, or even if he liked it. There were so many new feelings, wonderful _and_ terrible, that Yugi had yet to experience. That he wanted to experience? That must have been the truth. Why else pursue Bakura? Curiosity kills.

Maybe Yugi shouldn't have pushed the I'm-attracted-to-you concept on the thief so early, perhaps that had scared him off, though it was odd to think of Yami no Bakura scared of anything… Not that it wasn't true. Yugi was drawn to that surly dark side of Bakura, in sort of twisted way… And this "arrangement", if Bakura had agreed to it, would have made some sort of odd sick sense in Yugi's mind. But only if it was Bakura, Yugi couldn't picture this same situation with anyone else…

Wasn't semi-full access enough for the thief?

Was Yugi upset about the rejection? Yes, Yami no Bakura had hurt him, but that wasn't anything new. The guy was a bastard. Yes, the guy had made Yugi question his own motives.

Yes. Yugi decided as he trumped upstairs after squishing every last pea on his dinner plate, yes, he effected by the rejection.

After all. He still hadn't put on his Sennen Puzzle.

Yugi locked the door to his bedroom behind him.

He knew what he wanted. He wanted to talk to his other self, the calm, rational, always supporting soul. Yugi missed the pharaoh's strength. He missed a time when he had deserved his love.

"What does he think of me now?" Yugi wondered out loud, head turned to the ceiling.

There was no answer. The golden pendant dangling from his palm seemed to weigh down his world as well as his arm.

When would he put it on again?

Yugi slid down to the floor, knees folding. The Sennen Puzzle dropped down beside him, like an old friend, like a dog on a leash.

Yugi felt hollow. For the first time in his life he had wanted something, wanted it selfishly. If not to touch his other half then to touch something. Yami no Bakura understood, he just didn't care. Yugi loved his other half so much. Was this whole experience supposed to teach him something then? That love was enough. And that wanting what all other couples had, sexual gratification, physical intimacy, was useless and selfish and _wrong_?

Yugi swallowed.

God, he was horny.

"Shit," Yugi moaned.

He could masturbate. Alone. Without his other self. Without Yami no Bakura peering over his shoulder…

That would be pathetic. Not to mention a waste.

Yugi was too disgusted to touch himself. So he got ready for bed even though the glowing red numbers on his clock told the world it was barely 6 o'clock. Tomorrow was Saturday, he could get up early and work on that PowerPoint for his and Bakura Ryou's presentation. He could but he wouldn't.

Yugi got into some PJs, his light blue, yellow star speckled ones, perhaps to retain some form of his childhood. Either way he fell asleep rather quickly anyway.

Until his mother knocked on his door and Yugi jumped out of his unconscious doze.

"Yugi," she called, mouth very close to the wood of his door. "You have a visitor."

A visitor? _Now_? Yugi glanced at his clock, it shined 10:17 in his eyes.

Yugi scrambled out of his bed, wiping the little bit of drool off his chin. "Just a second!" He was wearing PJs. That wasn't exactly presentable, neither was dropping in on a friend when they were asleep…

"Yugi-kun?"

That was Bakura Ryou's voice. But was it truly that boy? Yugi doubted it.

Or was he just hoping it was the darker personality?

"Come in," Yugi answered.

He watched his bedroom door creak open like it was most fascinating thing in the entire world.

A pair of wide brown eyes spotted him. There was a nervous smile on Bakura Ryou's face. "Hi."

Yugi did not relax. His mother after all was standing behind his white-haired friend.

"Were you sleeping?" his mother questioned.

Yugi was suddenly fully aware of his light blue, star pajamas. And those brown eyes, which had noticed them too. The back of his neck got warm with embarrassment. "It was just a quick nap."

His mom looked skeptically. "Yes, well, make it quick. You need to get to that homework."

"It's _Friday_, mom," Yugi argued uselessly.

"And you need to pick your grades up again young man," his mother scolded.

Yugi did not look at her. Her words weren't important. "Yes, mom."

The parent left. And Bakura stepped into the room. Yugi's stray fingers brushed the door, guiding it to close.

Yugi could have burst. With what it didn't really matter.

"Um, you left this stuff at my apartment," the boy who-lived-in-an-apartment said. He dropped a pile of books and a notebook on Yugi's bedroom floor. Bedroom. _Bed_ room… "You'll need them for the powerpoint, right?"

There was an odd pressure between the halves of Yugi's rib cage. This was ridiculous. He had just seen Bakura, why had the guy come, in the middle of the night?

His visitor didn't seem offend that Yugi had yet to speak a word to him. "I know you left in a rush."

He knew? Yugi watched Bakura more carefully. The way he stepped. The style of his hair.

"I didn't expect him to scare you off," the Bakura told him. "He usually doesn't interfere with my academics."

Yugi nodded like his brain cavity was full of water.

"What did he do?"

Yugi opened his mouth and it filled with air. "Nothing I didn't deserve."

Bakura was observing him. Not looking. Not staring. Observing, watching…

"I find that hard to believe," the Bakura said.

Yugi was still standing there, in his light blue star PJs, with an odd pressure on his chest, and a dry mouth.

The Bakura touched his hair, tugged on a white lock.

And Yugi's gut tightened.

"Did he hurt you?" the Bakura asked, concern echoing in every feature.

"He didn't touch me," Yugi answered.

"Yugi-kun..."

Yugi shook himself. "Don't say stuff like that."

The Bakura tilted his head. "I don't understand."

"I can tell, you know," Yugi said. "Bakura Ryou only pulls his hair when he's nervous."

His Bakura visitor's eyebrows rose. That was the final sign. "But I am nervous."

"He wouldn't be," Yugi noted. "Not in this situation. He trusts you too much."

Yami no Bakura's face fell, relaxed; the sharpness of his face became prominent again. "You're very good at telling the difference."

"People who can't tell the difference have never known you," Yugi guessed. And no matter how casual his words, Yugi was still scared shitless.

Yami no Bakura graced Yugi with a smirk. "And do you know me?"

"More than some, less than some," Yugi rambled. God, why was he here? In Yugi's house. In Yugi's bedroom. Wasn't he sick of seeing Yugi by now? Wasn't humiliation once a day enough?

Yami no Bakura examined one of his thumbnails inattentively. "Would you like to know me better?"

Yugi froze. What was this? A test? A trick? He couldn't have changed his mind already, not when back in that apartment he had done everything possible to shame him, hurt him, fight him away.

Yami no Bakura's smirk widened, eyes still trained on his nail; he was trying to appear relaxed, something at which Yugi was not succeeding. "You don't believe me?"

"Sorry," Yugi apologized.

"Don't. I lead you to that conclusion."

"It's odd for you to admit that," Yugi said.

Yami no Bakura looked up, caught Yugi in his trap. "I was angry."

"You do that a lot," Yugi added, then immediately regretted it.

Yami no Bakura, generously, chose not to hear that particular comment; it was severely unlike him. "You were being ignorant."

"I can't exactly help it," Yugi pointed out numbly. "I'm not that experienced."

"And now I'm giving you a chance to correct that flaw," Yami no Bakura agreed.

Yugi was still resistant. "Why? What's changed since I left?"

"Changed?" and with impossible smugness he added, "I never actually refused you, if you hadn't left in such a hurry…" Yami no Bakura shrugged. "Besides… I got horny."

True story. 'I get horny and go to bed. He gets horny and finds a desperate teenager.' It showed the differences in their personalities.

"But why?" Yugi asked.

"You care?" Yami no Bakura demanded, throwing Yugi's question right back at him. "You're only attracted to my… what was it? Understanding? And my body, right?"

"It's hard to forget," Yugi answered and realized that he looking at just that, Yami no Bakura's body. Then figured it was appropriate and continued.

Yami no Bakura grinned. It was very odd. "Let's just say, for my part, you're an appropriate replacement."

That made sense, Yugi appreciated.

"Am I similar to you lighter half?" Yugi asked.

Yami no Bakura, in turn to Yugi's staring, was examining his body right back. "Your stature. Your voice. Your… obliviousness."

Yugi nodded.

The ancient spirit took a step forward. "Your eyes."

He had not been expecting that. It seemed too personal. And indeed when Yugi looked up Yami no Bakura was staring into his face and it was unnerving. Because Yami no Bakura's eyes were so black.

"You two have the same eye shape," Yami no Bakura explained practically. One more step and Yugi's bedroom wasn't that big.

Yugi felt the overwhelming need to escape this topic of conversation. "And you don't care that I'm loosing my innocence and dignity to you, as your replacement lighter half?"

A foot away, Yami no Bakura agreed crisply, "Of course not."

That's exactly what Yugi wanted to hear.

They were standing close together again.

And as though in perfect understanding, or perhaps to seal the deal, Yami no Bakura kissed Yugi's eager mouth.

Little excited fireworks danced in Yugi's throat as he sucked on the tongue entering his mouth.

Yami no Bakura, in memory of old times, bit Yugi's lower lip. Then the dark spirit snatched up Yugi's waist, hands groping down to Yugi's butt.

Yugi regretfully pulled his mouth away. "My mom…"

Yami no Bakura chewed on his ear and Yugi felt his knees crumble, pressing his own body into the thief's. "Downstairs."

"My grandfather," Yugi protested. "I- we can't do this _now_. _Here_."

"Try and stop me," Yami no Bakura challenged and he palmed Yugi's groin.

Yugi's breath hitched. "My- we'll be heard-"

Yami no Bakura's hand squeezed Yugi's crouch. It wasn't a very pleasant feeling and it probably wasn't meant to be. The thief was an expert on building up frustration. "Then don't make a sound," he hissed so that his breath stung Yugi's skin. And then the dark spirit picked up his prey, right off the ground, and tossed him onto the bed.

And as Yami no Bakura and Yugi tore each other's shirts off and Yugi's childhood star-pajamas were thrown to the floor, the teenager boy realized he didn't know how to be quiet.

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

"Hey," Yugi nudged the thief, thumbs pressing into his neck.

Yami no Bakura grunted, his wild white hair fanned out on the pillow. The ancient spirit's eyes were closed.

"What do I call you?" Yugi asked, chin resting upon the thief's bare shoulder.

Yami no Bakura's mouth twisted, frowning. "I don't know. What _do_ you call me?"

"I mean, what should I call you? Your name isn't Bakura."

"Why? Do you want to know what to scream from now on?" Yami no Bakura taunted, sleepily.

Yugi felt the blush spread over his face. "I'm just wondering."

And Yami no Bakura groaned and turned over in the covers, facing away from Yugi. "Everyone calls your other half Yugi."

"I don't call him that," Yugi argued, curling up against the thief's naked back.

"What do you call him?" Yami no Bakura asked, as though playing along with a little kid.

Yugi pressed his nose to the skin between Yami no Bakura's shoulder blades. "Mou hitori no boku."

Yami no Bakura snorted. "What a mouthful. And he calls you _aibou_, does he? How suggestive."

Yugi perched his head on top of Yami no Bakura's shoulder. "It's more personal than Yadounushi."

Yami no Bakura made no comment. His eyes were still closed.

"Do you remember any sort of name from your past life?" Yugi asked.

"No," Yami no Bakura growled. "A name is power. If I knew my name, I would have defeated your darker half a long time ago."

Yugi blinked. The spirit seemed bad tempered. Perhaps he was just sleepy.

"What do you _want_ to be called?" Yugi asked

There was no answer for a moment. Yugi gave the question time to settle.

"Bakura," the ancient spirit replied, curtly.

Yugi was surprised. "Why?"

Yami no Bakura twisted back around, dislodging Yugi from his shoulder. His eyes were still closed, but his face was scrunched up in stubbornness.

Yugi pulled himself in real close, gazing at those shut eyelids. "Do you want to be reminded of your lighter half? Is that why?"

"You think too much," Yami no Bakura dismissed.

Yugi smiled. He liked Bakura's eyelashes; they were dark against his ghostly complexion.

"What will your lighter half do when he wakes up in my bed tomorrow?" Yugi asked, this time in a whisper.

"He'll deal," the thief returned. "Now stop talking."

And Yugi obeyed. Getting as close to that warm sleeping body as possible, Yugi obeyed and slept.

Next morning, Yugi woke to find Bakura had long gone.

Perhaps Yami no Bakura had left as soon as Yugi had fallen asleep.

* * *

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

* * *

CUTE!! Freaky, but CUTE! Who knew Bakura could be so cuddly! And Yugi so… he thinks too much. But I don't mind.

Hope you had fun. I like Bakura in this chapter. He's so practical.

NEXT CHAPTER!: Yugi and Bakura are together, in a way of sorts. So everything's perfect now. WRONG! But what that attractive Egyptian who still wanders the hall of the school? Well, he's still catching the eye of another certain white-haired boy.

**REVIEW!!**


	7. Could You Forgive Me, for Being so Brash

Wow

Wow. This is like… 12 word document pages long. SO LONG. Not really.

ENJOY!

Or as they say in a certain small populaced college in Pennsylvania: ROCK THE AWK!!

Which totally applies in this chapter, btw.

* * *

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

**Chyaputa 7: If you could forgive me, for being to brash**

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

* * *

"Yo! What's up?" A beaming, and unexpected, Egyptian crashed into Yugi and Ryou Bakura's table. The two of them had just been having the most innocent conversation about pencils vs. pens when Malik arrived.

Of course, Yugi looked importantly at Ryou Bakura, watching for a reaction from the white-haired boy as his crush suddenly appeared at his side. But Ryou Bakura looked as placid as ever. More so, probably.

"You, evidently," Ryou Bakura responded with a casual smile. _Oh_ he was good.

Yugi, trying to seem inconspicuous, vaguely voiced. "Nothing much."

"Fan_tastic_," Malik claimed, rubbing his copper hands together. "Sooo… Ryou, my most dearest friend, and might I mention the sexiest sexbot in the land, might you have the notes for English?"

Ryou stirred his potatoes, the picture of innocence. "The class you skipped this morning?"

Malik gasped. "Oh you clever studious student you." And the boy, to Yugi's amusement, stretched out his arm and lounged it upon Ryou Bakura's shoulders. "Please, I know I am the utmost horrible, not to mention ugly, person in the universe compared to your grandeur, but I'm sure you can find it in your bright heart to grant mercy upon me." Malik nuzzled the side of Ryou Bakura's head. "Besides it wasn't my fault! My yami had me all preoccupied all this morning."

Ryou Bakura shrugged, eyes still focused upon his food. "Alright." And he handed over his notebook.

Malik leapt with delight. "Oh you godsent wonderful boy!" And he swooped down and, to Yugi's shock, clasped Ryou Bakura's gently by the chin and kissed him on the cheek. "You shant be disappointed in me again. And I will repay you, in any way possible. Just say the word, my creamy muffincake!" Then the over zealous Egyptian ta-ta-ed them and frolicked away.

Bakura remained in his seat, looking unaffected. His eyes didn't even flicker off his lunch during their entire conversation.

Yugi could have squealed for his friend if he wasn't so in awe of Ryou Bakura's composure. "You certainly can keep a straight face. You didn't even blush!" Yugi shook his head. "Sometimes I don't think your human, Bakura-kun."

Then Yugi realized it wasn't composure that kept Bakura still, it was something else. As the boy continued to stir his potatoes he muttered. "Preoccupied by his yami, huh?"

Yugi closed his mouth, actually nervous now.

Ryou Bakura looked up, not to meet Yugi's eye but in pure thought. "I wonder if they all want us preoccupied."

Yugi wasn't quite sure what his friend meant.

Ryou Bakura released his fork. "Makes you wonder if we're supposed to be gay."

"Sorry?" Yugi asked.

His question must have broken Ryou Bakura's train of thought because the boy shook himself, eyes refocusing. "Does your other half show inclinations toward you as well?"

Yugi's shock was so sudden that he squeaked with out meaning to. "_What_?" There was heat under the collar of his school uniform.

Ryou Bakura watched his reaction with an intuitive eye. And Yugi knew that he had already guessed, or knew, it was creepy how Ryou Bakura did that sometimes.

"Well… yeah, I mean," Yugi stumbled, becoming short of breath. "I love him."

But those would hurt nowadays. Yugi loved his other half. He loved him like no other. _No_ other.

Ryou Bakura did not giggle at Yugi's claim of love for his other half because _this_ Bakura was reasonable guy, and Yugi blessed him for that. Instead the pale boy turned back to his food without another spoken word. It was awkward for Yugi for a few seconds, not for Ryou Bakura though cause the guy was so secure in everything that he did. It was almost, well, it was scary.

"Hey, Bakura-kun," Yugi began.

Ryou Bakura met his look. "Yeah?"

Yugi grinned. "You ever going to wash that cheek now?"

"Hm… Never…" And Ryou Bakura closed his eyes and smiled in remembrance, like a cat purring. "Lilac sleeveless. Must be Tuesday."

Yugi laughed. "I nearly fainted for you."

But, as usual, Ryou Bakura was too lost in his own thoughts. "Just as I imagined… like coffee."

"He _is _a friendly." And Yugi was giggling, but it was stopped short but a snort of disapproved.

Yugi opened his eyes to find a disgruntled Yami no Bakura glaring at him out of Ryou Bakura's face. His black eyes were the picture of fury. "Don't encourage him."

"Who? Malik or Bakura-kun?" Yugi asked pleasantly.

Yami no Bakura's ribs swelled. "You know very well."

"Don't worry," Yugi assured him. "It's harmless."

"Quite," the thief scoffed.

Yugi rolled his eyes. "He loves you."

Yami no Bakura was not appeased. "That never stopped a hikari from wandering before."

Ouch. That had hurt. "Ok, then talk to him about it," Yugi said with secret pleasure. He knew the thief would never talk to his other half.

As he had predicted, Yami no Bakura barked, "I shouldn't have to. Is loyalty too much to ask?"

"You're hardly one to talk," Yugi commented, examining his carrots.

"Everything I do is for Yadonushi," the thief recited, as he did often. "This _fraternizing_ with Malik serves no purpose."

Yugi chewed a vegetable slowly, even after it was already mush. "I think it makes Bakura-kun happy."

Yami no Bakura had nothing to say to this. It countered all his points perfectly. It was amazing how Yugi, dim as he was, sometimes stumped the mater strategist. Yugi accepted this victory by enjoying his lunch in silence for a few seconds.

"Would it be so bad if Bakura-kun and Malik got together?" Yugi asked, genuinely curious.

"_Yes_," Yami no Bakura growled, scowl increasing.

"Why? You can't keep him all to yourself forever."

Yami no Bakura exhaled loudly; his patience was being tested. "Besides the obvious complications, he's _Malik_."

Yugi thought this was rather unfair. "What have you got against Malik?"

Yami no Bakura gave Yugi a deathly obvious look. "You don't have to be oblivious all the time. He's _Malik_. He holds the Sennen Rod."

"And you have the Sennen Ring," Yugi argued.

"He has a jealous homicidal yami barely an inch away from his consciousness who has already attempted to murder me in my sleep more than once," Yami no Bakura reminded him fiercely.

Yugi had forgotten about that. But Malik always seemed so… in control. "Wasn't that after you slept with Malik?"

"Exactly," Yami no Bakura finished, his point proven for him. "And if Yadonushi is alone with Malik, what do you think will happen?"

"But you'll be there," Yugi said. "Nothing can hurt him when your there."

Yami no Bakura released a crude smirk. "Thanks."

"You've got to let him go sometime. At least let him try, this is what he wants," Yugi pointed out.

Yami no Bakura scoffed. "Yadonushi doesn't know what he wants."

Yugi was taken aback. "Bakura-kun has his own brain, you know. Not just his own personality. He's smart."

"I _know_ he's smart," Yami no Bakura snapped. And there was something odd in his tone, something about the way he turned his head away from the table and out to the window that made Yugi pensive… depth…? "That's not what I meant," the ancient spirit admitted grudgingly.

Curious, Yugi leaned in. "What _do_ you mean then?"

The thief was reluctant. "Yadonushi is confused."

Yugi didn't believe him "I'm sure Bakura-kun knows if he's gay or not."

Yami no Bakura glared at Yugi. "Does he? Tell me then, why Malik?"

Yugi shrugged. "I don't know, I suppose he is attractive…"

"_I_ had sex with Malik," Yami no Bakura reminded him.

Yugi felt instantly uncomfortable. "Yeah. I know. But what does that…" Then Yugi got it. "Malik was your first lover. The first sexual memory you… shared with Bakura-kun?"

Yami no Bakura's jaw was clenched. "I tried to erase him, I was as thorough as possible." He was angry, with himself this time, not at Yugi.

Yugi was horrified. Was that true? Even if Yami no Bakura, an expert at memory modifying, erased Malik from the memory, had Ryou Bakura still been affected by the slightest scent, a single flash of color…? Is that why Ryou was so attracted to the Egyptian?

"Is that what we are?" Yugi asked, settling back down into his seat.

Yami no Bakura didn't look back at him. "What?"

"Lovers?"

The thief flinched, _flinched_. It was an unfair move on Yugi's part since Yami no Bakura was being so nice. Then he turned and met Yugi's eye across the width of the table.

"_I_ don't think so," Yami no Bakura answered.

Yugi sighed. "Why?"

"Because we are not romantically connected."

Yugi stared "Since when do you acknowledge romance?"

Yami no Bakura put on his superior face. "It has never had to do with any of our transactions."

Yugi folding his arms on the table, leaning forward. "So what do you count as romance then? It's not all candy boxes and roses."

Yami no Bakura did not turn away from Yugi's challenge. "Caring for the other person."

"I care about you," Yugi argued.

Yami no Bakura rolled his eyes. "There's a difference."

"Between what?"

"Between caring if the other is alive and enjoying their company."

"I enjoy your company," Yugi replied.

Yami no Bakura was getting angry. "There is a difference between love and caring."

Yugi shrugged. "Obviously." But he had used the L-word and that made Yugi grin. "So what would you call us?"

Yami no Bakura's stare was blank.

"If we're not lovers then what are we?" Yugi explained.

"Colleagues," Yami no Bakura answered easily.

Yugi was perplexed. "As in a business transaction?"

Yami no Bakura was immovable. "Exactly."

Yugi sighed, "Don't you think what we do is more important than a business transaction?"

"The amount of personal investment is the same," Yami no Bakura replied, picking at his nails.

Yugi felt his lips pout. He would like to think that he and _this_ Bakura had become good friends. They talked didn't they? The thief had confided in Yugi about his doubts about Ryou! Didn't that mean anything?

"Though it is significant, to both our lives."

Yugi's head jumped up, he hadn't been paying attention to what Yami no Bakura had just said. "What?"

The thief looked bad tempered. "Nothing," he snapped.

Yugi was sure Yami no Bakura had just said something positive about their… 'relationship'. And that made Yugi smile, even if he hadn't caught the words.

"I know I'm thankful for it," Yugi mentioned, stabbing some vegetables on his plate.

Yami no Bakura's brow wrinkled. "Thankful for what?"

Innocently, Yugi sighed. "_Nothing_."

This was awkward, but Yugi was enjoying it. There was a type of softness to the creases around Yami no Bakura's scowling mouth that Yugi hadn't seen before. It was nice, how Yugi could freely examine the ancient spirit's face without being snapped at, without being glared at, with Yami no Bakura just… letting him… look.

"Oops."

And just like that their moment was ruined.

Malik had come to return Ryou Bakura's book. "Looks like I'm interrupting something." The glowing grin on his face was just about as comforting as Yami no Bakura's furious glare.

Yugi was panicking. "Wh-what do you mean Malik?" The flush was blood to his face was not helping the situation at all.

Malik's teeth were shockingly white against his copper skin. "Oh? Do you normally talk to Spiky at school without death threats or the subject of world domination coming up?"

"But I'm n-" To Yugi's further shock, when he turned back to look at his table companion, Yami no Bakura was still sitting across from him. Surely he would have changed back into the other Bakura by now. After all, neither of them wanted anyone to know that this ancient spirit was hanging around at school. Did he not care if Malik saw him? Was Yugi about to witness a violent confrontation between Malik and the ancient spirit?

Malik was so cheerful it hurt, as he slid down onto the bench next to the thief. "Say Spiky, let your other far more pleasant self out for a sec? I need to return his notebook."

Yami no Bakura looked about as happy as dried meat. "No."

Malik pouted his best teasing pout. "Come now. I just want to tell him how gorgeous he is."

"_No_."

Malik sighed. "Fine. I'll wait. I don't mind. Anything for an innocent excuse to talk to him."

And although the situation was still awkward and Yami no Bakura was glaring at the windowsill like he was trying to set it on fire, Yugi perked up. "Do you like Bakura-kun, Malik-kun?"

Malik was startled, his attention jumping onto Yugi. "If by Bakura-kun you mean that adorable fluffball of cuteness, then yes. But _this_ guy," Malik jabbed his thumb at Bakura's darker personality, "Then _hell_ no. Great in bed but I can't stand his gloominess." The Egyptian cocked his head wickedly. "More for you then, _eh_, Yugi-kun?"

Yugi was too shocked to comprehend. "I-ah-not sure what you mean…" He tried to laugh it off but it was very obvious that he was faking.

Malik grinned again and it was like knives in Yugi's side. "Now, now, don't be so coy," and he nudged Yugi's paralyzing arm across the table, "Isn't his egoistical nature attractive? The spikiness of his dangerous locks? His cold eyes? Doesn't the sharpness of his tongue drive you wild?"

Yugi was utterly frozen.

'How does Malik know…?' he wondered. Perhaps the Egyptian didn't know, perhaps this was all a misunderstanding. 'Did Bakura tell him?'

"I…" But that was all Yugi could manage.

'Bakura shouldn't have seen Malik since… Bakura couldn't have told him.' Yugi shook his head. But if Yami no Bakura hadn't said anything to Malik… then who had? 'Mou hitori no boku?'

"That's enough, Malik," Yami no Bakura growled. He had still not moved an inch since the Egyptian had arrived.

Malik cooed, "What's this? You sticking up for someone else? I had no idea that you two had gotten so serious!"

Yugi was just as confused. This whole situation was… impossible. Malik was not supposed to be here. This 'relationship' whatever it was, was only supposed to exist between the two of them, no one else was supposed to know, not Malik, not Ryou Bakura, not Yugi's other half… No one. It was a secret, practically its own reality.

"But I am curious," Malik continued, although neither Yami no Bakura or Yugi had prompted him. "How the surly other Yugi is taking this?"

It had taken a while, and a lot of Yami no Bakura's non-supportive mental coaching, to convince Yugi to put the Sennen Puzzle back on. For some reason Yami no Bakura did not want Yugi to keep it off permanently. Yugi couldn't fathom why. Maybe Yami no Bakura, being a Sennen Item spirit himself felt that it was an abomination to keep a spirit boxed up like that.

"Spiky and I both know, first hand, how angry _my_ yami can get," Malik mentioned mildly, leaning into Yami no Bakura's elbow. "I can't imagine the other Yugi is very happy at the moment."

And now that Puzzle was hanging around Yugi's neck, though that was as far as their connection went these days…

This conversation could not be happening. Malik wasn't supposed to know… Did he not understand that this was a forbidden subject?

"I mean, I can hardly believe it. Yugi, little innocent Yugi, turning out to be a littler pervert like the rest of us. Our own little nymphomaniac doing it with big bad Bakura, _seriously_? Doesn't really make any sense. Yugi's poor yami must be so confused, rejected? Unless Yugi and him take turns with you-"

"_Malik_," the warning in Yami no Bakura's voice was clear.

The Egyptian took the challenge turning completely on the thief. "Why then should you be allowed to fuck around with Yugi? _Yugi_! The guy's like a freaking _kid_. He barely has enough strength to speak up for himself and yet _Ryou_-"

The bench scraped out behind Yami no Bakura stood in the fury of his movement. "_Don't_ call him that!"

"_Ryou_ has more sense than anyone!" Malik argued standing too. And his face was surprising passionate. "He's smart! He knows you're the one who fills his head with that pathetic crap every night! He knows about-"

Yami no Bakura was like knife. "_Shut_ it."

Malik gulped, but only hesitated for a moment before continuing again. "I can protect him."

Yami no Bakura turned away. "Fuck you can. Your other personality is not like…" Then the thief shut his mouth.

Malik's eyebrows rose. "Like who? Like Yugi's yami who silently broods like a worm inside his guilt and does nothing while his light whores himself off to a sad sod like you-"

Plastic smacked against the metal cafeteria table. Yugi jumped, even though it was him who had knocked the cup over. And Malik's eyes were on him now, wide and almost round. And Yami no Bakura wasn't looking at him. There was even a tightness in his throat, suggesting that he was refusing to look at Yugi.

Fear was thick, pressing Yugi down into his seat. "Sorry," he squeaked and then he was standing too. "S-sorry?" He left. He had to leave, that was his only option. And he dashed across the room without looking at anyone.

Yugi was terrified. He was out of the cafeteria, and the hallway was, thankfully, blissfully empty. There was no one to observe Yugi's sweaty face or his panicked breathing. When he finally stopped running, Yugi collapsed against the lockers, moist palms sticking to the cool metal. And all the while Yugi had to remember to breathe. He couldn't very well think of anything else.

A few torturous moments later and Yugi did not feel like his nerves were disappearing. Malik's words were jammed painfully into his head, smashing into his brain. The weight of the Puzzle was hurting his neck. He was not getting calmer. This aloneness was not helping.

"Yo."

With too much relief, Yugi turned to find Yami no Bakura, all dark-eyed and white-haired, approaching him in brisk strides.

He stopped, towering over Yugi, wild hair framing that dangerous expression.

'He came after me,' Yugi dared to think. For thinking was a risky thing. But there was no reaction from the seemingly-innocent looking Puzzle so he assumed no damage had been done. The mental block was stronger than diamonds nowadays…

"H-hi," Yugi greeted through barred teeth that should have been in a nice convincing smile. But he couldn't help being terrified at that moment.

Yami no Bakura looked stern. "You're going to puke."

"No."

"You're going to cry."

Yugi swallowed. "Yeah."

"_Fine_," Yami no Bakura had no patience. So he grabbed Yugi's arm and without warning or curtsey yanked him off the wall, passed the lockers… and then shoved him into an oddly convenient janitor's closet. Or Yugi assumed it was a janitor's closet. He didn't really have the time or the energy to look around. Cause when that door slammed shut behind them, Yami no Bakura turned onto Yugi, clutching him by the shoulders and shoving him against the wall. Shirt fumbling started soon after that.

It was a good distraction. And it should have worked. But as Yugi placed his dry lips on Yami no Bakura's neck, sickness pained his stomach.

The Sennen Puzzle. Yugi hadn't taken it off yet. And they were, and they were…

Yugi pulled his body away from Bakura's so that he could shake off the metal chain that connected him to his other half. It landed on the floor with a dull thud and that signaled Yami no Bakura's return, his teeth descending once more on Yugi's ear.

It was odd, how none of it seemed to help, cause it usually did. It was usually a very good distraction. Today just sucked. But Yugi didn't have the heart to tell Yami no Bakura to stop so he just stood there and let the thief's actions continue, that rhythmic groping.

"He-" choke, "He- likes to take walks."

Yami no Bakura teased his nails under Yugi's shirt, pulling the clothing up. "Does he."

Yugi flinched as the thief nibbled his way cruelly down to his partner's chest. "At night." Yugi fell back against the wall, legs quivering. "He- he takes the body and walks." Yugi gasped, but it wasn't due to Yami no Bakura's skillful fingers. "We don't talk about it."

"Naturally."

And Yugi squeaked because Yami no Bakura was actually biting his skin. He was squeezing Yugi's wrists too hard.

"He- we don't speak to each other anymore. And each night he comes back later and later…" Yugi choked. He tucked his head into Yami no Bakura's neck, while the other had been struggling with Yugi's belt. "I can't even imagine what he's doing…"

There was an unexpected growl before the hand that had been greedily tugging at Yugi's pants stopped. Then a sigh, and the body Yugi was leaning against relaxed. "Perhaps he has his own fuck-colleague."

Yugi stopped. He just stopped, like his brain had hit a snag. That idea… that thought had never occurred to him. He couldn't even… comprehend…

"No," Yugi blurted into the ancient spirit's shirt. He couldn't, he wouldn't… "No, he- he… can't…"

Yami no Bakura did not feel the need to move. "Now whose being a hypocrite?"

Yugi was.

"He's not," Yugi insisted, gripping handfuls of Yami no Bakura's clothing just to hang on. "That's not his style. He's too-"

"Noble? Arrogant?"

Yugi closed his mouth.

"And when he already knows about your encounters with me…"

"He doesn't know," Yugi protested. Yami no Bakura's musk surrounded him. He was breathing. He was breathing in his scent- "Mou hitori no boku wouldn't do that to me."

But Yugi had fallen into a trap. The rebuttal to Yugi's last words were shinning like treasure on the tip of Yami no Bakura's tongue: _What? And you would?_

Yugi almost willed him to say it.

Yami no Bakura sighed, his body deflating further. And an arm snuck around Yugi's back, holding him in place. "You're right."

Yugi was short of air. So he breathed.

Yami no Bakura wasn't supposed to be kind like this. It made Yugi too uncomfortable.

It was too dark in the closet to see anything so there was silence for a moment. Then the silence lengthened and it became impenetrable. Yugi let his limbs bring him to the floor and Yami no Bakura, surprisingly, followed, arm still around Yugi's back. When the bell rang to signal the next class, neither of them moved. It was odd and strange and Yugi wasn't sure if he liked the two of cuddling together in the dark.

* * *

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

* * *

Umm… This chapter is so cute! Its like everyone is getting along. Or a bit at the beggining anyway.

I LOVE smart Ryou. He's such a smarty. I could do dirty things to that boy. And I have. In my stories.

YAY! Bakura has a heart. A little shriveled heart but a heart nonetheless. So you could say he's not Heartless. Hehehehe. I amuse myself.

Next chapter's kinda… intense. Even for me. Be careful. (hides)


	8. You Can Hit Me or Whip Me

Ooooooooooooooooooh shit.

(hides face)

* * *

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

**Chyaputa 8: You can hit me or whip me**

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

* * *

Yugi went home without going to any other classes. He and Bakura's darker personality had sat in the closet for about two class periods without one word being spoken, their only movement breathing. Then, finally, Yami no Bakura had removed his arms from around Yugi's slim body and told the boy to go home. Then the spirit had left, leaving Yugi still hugging his knees.

Yugi had gotten home, had met no teachers or students on his way out of school, like it had been fate or something. He had greeted his mother, his grandfather, even with a smile. He had done his homework in some feverish need to keep his mind busy. He had eaten dinner at the family table of green beans and fish. And now he was sitting in his room.

The Puzzle was resting on Yugi's nightstand. It's golden eye staring at him.

And that same thought was circulating his mind again. 'When will I put it back on?'

What if he didn't?

Yugi shivered. That wasn't fair. None of this was fair to him. Yugi's other self had done nothing wrong. He couldn't be blamed for Yugi's mistakes, Yugi's selfishness… It was all Yugi's fault, that they weren't talking anymore, that he was afraid of his own other self.

Yugi moaned. "Mou hitori no boku…" But of course he couldn't hear him.

He would have to put the Puzzle on soon. Might as well be now.

Dread with the weight of lead, Yugi pulled himself off the floor and lifted the chain around his head. That old familiar weight locking him into place. That solid divider between their two minds that had become so familiar these days.

Maybe it was all the nostalgia and guilt in his system, but something triggered Yugi to fall back into his own mind.

He was running. Away from his bedroom, away from reality and free moving time…

Yugi was running down that hallway that split his two minds. The corridor was empty; despite this franticness of his stomping feet, his footfalls made no noise in that metaphysical zone. Panting unnecessarily, Yugi reached the crossroads; on one side was his soul room, door open and inviting, and on the other side was his darker half's, the door locked and practically rusted shut.

Summoning courage that was more based on guilt than anything, Yugi placed his hand on the surface of his darker half's door. He did not approach the doorknob, he did not even look at it. He would not open the door and confess to his other half all of his sins. But he needed this. To be able to sense that somewhere in there, behind that dark room, and in the corner of that labyrinth, was this other self. Alone… waiting…

Yugi could not even fathom an apology… So he just stood there, hand against the surface of that coarse door.

'How long has it been since I've talked with you?'

But that had been a thought. Thoughts were dangerous.

And as soon as those pleading words had made themselves known in Yugi's brain, they echoed like a bell throughout the two soul rooms.

Not a second later and the door which Yugi's hand rested upon fell backwards. The door opened…

Yugi met those red eyes for the first time in too long.

/I heard you. /

Yugi was frozen. With fear. He was backing away. But he couldn't look away from those eyes…

Concern. /Aibo- /

A great disturbance. Back in reality, in real time, hands were at Yugi's throat. In panic Yugi contacted the outside body to fight back. But before he could do anything, the metaphysical hallway ripped right down the middle, a further schism between there two minds. Yugi saw his other self, his mou hitori no boku, along with his entire soul room, fall backwards disappearing into abyss. Their connection severed.

Yugi blinked his physical eyes to see Yami no Bakura holding the golden Sennen Puzzle above his head. As though he was going to smash Yugi's skull with it.

Yugi was still too shocked by his unexpected meeting with his other self to register anything properly.

"_Idiot_." The Puzzle was lowered, but its golden eye was still staring, staring… "You shouldn't be talking to him in your current state."

Yugi was fixated on his golden pendent. "I didn't mean to talk to him…"

The Puzzle was dropped, it bounced dully on the carpet. "_Whatever_." Yami no Bakura moved away to the other side of the room, leaving Yugi to overcome his shock of his ripped mental connection alone.

Yugi breathed, that was all he could do for a few moments. Yami no Bakura had taken his usual position by the window, back to Yugi.

"Thanks," Yugi said, more maybe the thousandth time.

And as usual Yami no Bakura would not accept his gratitude. "It's my job, isn't it?"

"There's more to it than that…" And strangely, unexpectedly, heat rose through Yugi's core. But Yugi had never blushed at Yami no Bakura before… and yet the way the ancient spirit stood at the window with the sun basking his pale skin, his hair turned silver…

But Yugi was getting romantic. Which was unhealthy for this particular relationship.

"Shall we move onto the other part of our arrangement then?" the spirit of the Sennen Ring questioned.

Yugi blinked. Why hadn't he expected this? Why else would Yami no Bakura come to him after school when Yugi's mother was still at work and Yugi's grandpa was occupied with the shop? They hadn't actually done anything at school today, which was unusual. They had sat in that closet for too long, two periods had it been? They hadn't done anything…

But as Yugi's lips parted, ready to encourage Yami no Bakura to begin… he suddenly felt rather exhausted. He realized he didn't actually want to do it. He wasn't in the aroused mood, oddly enough.

But Yami no Bakura spun away from the window and, without an invitation, his eyes- _god_ his eyes- pounced on Yugi. He swung the teenage boy around and flung him on the bed, the mattress cracked innocently.

And as Yami no Bakura got on the bed beside him Yugi sighed, 'It's ok. I don't mind giving this to him.' And he tightened his jaw and his body went limp with submission.

With a growl, Yami no Bakura tore Yugi's pants down, not even bothering to remove the shirt. There was no foreplay, no playful kissing, no teasing of the collar bone, Yugi was naked from the waist down, except for his boxers. Yugi couldn't deny that this was a little… disconcerting. This was not the way their sessions usual went. Today the Yami was going straight for the goods, so to speak. The boxers were pulled down and Yugi went rigid in cold.

"Come, come, Yugi-kun, don't act as though you've never done this before," said the Yami with Yugi's penis between his malicious palms. "Relax, and enjoy yourself a little."

Yugi didn't like the sound of that. Yami no Bakura's words made him more tense. Relaxation was the last thing on his mind, especially since Yugi's progress down there was not going nearly as smoothly as it normally did. Yami no Bakura did everything and anything to the poor organ, coaxing it up. Yugi was so close to rolling off the bed and just giving up for the day… but Yami no Bakura seemed so enthusiastic and he had done so much for Yugi these last couple weeks…

_Bam_. A pile of books tumbled off the shelf. Yugi hadn't been paying enough attention to catch if Yami no Bakura knocked them over on purpose or by mistake but he had abandoned Yugi's timid member and jumped up on the bed again to straddle Yugi's waist. His eyes, spiteful eyes, poured like acid into Yugi's face.

"What? Are you tired? Too much boredom for you today? Didn't you get what you wanted in that closet? Then give me what I want now."

Yugi swallowed. "I'm sorry. I'll try."

"No." and the word scared him. "No, you will_, aibou._"

He grabbed Yugi's wrists and pressed them into the bed. His grip hurt but Yugi only flinched. The Yami was rubbing himself against Yugi's unprotected member and his breath came in blast of animal stink. Yugi dug his teeth into his lower lip. This was not comfortable and he gasped a little in pain. His wrists were pounding his pulse into Yami no Bakura's palms.

"Better, but not good enough." He exchanged hands, so that he held Yugi's wrists above his head with one hand. The other hand slithered down Yugi's bare body, exploring lower, his arched back, his ass, his…

Yugi squeaked. "_Bakura_!"

But the yami ignored him. His finger was trailing not-so-nice circles around the so-far-untouched area. It had been forbidden since Yami no Bakura's attempt to take it during their regrettable first session.

Yugi wanted to slap Yami no Bakura's hand away but his hands were trapped. "Bakura- I'm sorry- I'm not in the mood, okay?" Yugi pleaded, peeling his teeth away from his sore lower lip.

"Afraid of a little feeling?" the Yami hissed, concentrating on his work. He slid a knee up in between Yugi's legs. It nudged Yugi's meek erection. "It's just fun. Aren't you having _fun_? Do you really think that I would take you without consent?"

'No,' Yugi squirmed but Yami no Bakura seemed to enjoy that. 'No, he wouldn't. He wouldn't.'

But Yami no Bakura's finger was getting a little too adventurous… Yugi didn't like this. He _really_ didn't like this.

Yugi's arms flapped the best they could but Yami no Bakura was strong, too strong to fight. No, this was _not_ fun anymore. "Please, Bakura, I don't want to do this now."

The Yami scoffed, more sour breath in Yugi's face. "Am I not enjoyable enough for you, _aibou_?"

"No, Bakura, you're- I just don't want to do _this_," Yugi pleaded, arms struggling more.

Yami no Bakura smirked. "But you would for your other half, right? You would welcome his stick up your ass, if he had one."

'This is bad,' Yugi realized, '_Really_ bad.' He didn't want this, he didn't want this, he didn't want this…

Yami no Bakura wouldn't… he wouldn't… Yugi opened his clenched eyes…

Ice. Yami no Bakura's expression was pure ice. Dangerous…

And it hit Yugi that the Yami was serious.

"Stop it, Bakura." Fear, like a hot electric wire, shocked Yugi's system. "Stop it!"

"If this was your other half you wouldn't say that? Aren't I his replacement? Why are you complaining?" Yami no Bakura was calm as ice, his hands purposeful and methodical in all their actions.

This could _not_ go on, Yugi was scared. Too scared to think. So he shook his body and kicked and thrashed. "Get off me! Stop it! _Stop it_!"

But Yami no Bakura was not stopping.

Fear. Yugi thrashed until finally he thrust his head forward and bit Yami no Bakura's ear, hard, no playful, _hard_, as though to tear it from his head.

Yami no Bakura roared. His hand restraining Yugi's wrists slackened and Yugi escaped, kicking the Yami in the stomach and scrambling to the other side of the bed. He grabbed a sheet and pulled it up over his naked waist in some desperate way to protect his body.

Yami no Bakura was livid, one hand to his red ear, the other gripping the bed post with such ferocity…

Yugi couldn't breathe the panic out of his system. "Why did you do that?"

Yami no Bakura spat, "You don't know and that's precisely the problem."

"What are you talking about? I told you, I can't have sex without-"

A powerful exhale, more like a bark of laughter. "_Yes_, because oral sex isn't really fucking at all. Anal sex is the only kind of fuck there is."

"I don't understand," Yugi pleaded, his body shivering.

"I thought you enjoyed being forcefully taken advantage of. Wasn't that how it was in the castle? You learned to love it there," the Yami countered flawlessly.

Yugi caught himself. "But you- you- never went that far."

"_That_ far?" Yami lifted himself off the bed. His head straightened, with laughing eyes. "Don't you have any respect for _yourself_? A physical violation is physical violation, _fool_! It doesn't matter how far it is if the touch is unwanted!"

Now he was angry? Yugi couldn't follow. Why was the Yami arguing against his own actions? "Why are you acting so different?"

"_Different_?" the Yami sneered. "This is how I work. I seduce and then I take what I want. I have never operated otherwise."

"No," Yugi cried. Jitters, like burning in Yugi's brain. He didn't understand, he didn't understand. The burning was traveling to his eyes. "These last weeks…" Yugi clutched the sheet closer to his body. "You've been considerate, you've been even… nice! You've helped me-"

More laughter. "Are you out of your mind?" the Yami questioned. "I am the spirit of the Ring. I am alive to conquer the world. I am darkness. I am your nemesis."

"No, you're not!" Yugi screamed. "You're not all evil! You're human, aren't you? So you can't be all bad. You've been good to me. To me- you- you mean so much to me- you- I… I-"

"I am _not_ your other half."

And there was no more laughter. All was serious. And as Yugi gazed up at the Yami, shocked, out of his mind. He saw that the Yami- Yami no Bakura was so serious it could kill him.

Yugi gulped, "I don't think you're him."

"What happened today?" Yami no Bakura demanded.

Yugi trembled. "We sat together…"

Disgust, pure disgust lit up his evil face. "I don't _sit_ with people in closets. I _fuck_ them."

Yugi flinched. "But it was nice…"

The thief bared his teethed. "_I_ don't do nice." Then Yami no Bakura grabbed something on the floor, and flung it on the bed; the Puzzle bounced on the mattress inoffensively. "You want a shoulder to cry on? Make up with your Puzzle-slut sob. Sex him up with your new memories and whore trips. And _don't_ give me that, 'we haven't had sex' bit, cause even though I've never _penetrated_ you that doesn't make you any less deflowered!"

Yugi was naked. And cold. And he didn't like this. He almost wished he had giving into the Yami's sexual demands. "I don't understand… Please, Bakura…"

Yami no Bakura was breathing hard, out of rage. "You sicken me. Slut. Wake up."

"No…" Yugi said. "Don't…" He didn't understand what was going on. Why couldn't he speak? Why was his tongue failing to voice his… his…

"Consider out arrangement cancelled."

It was quick. One second Yami no Bakura had eyes bulging with rage, the next the ancient spirit had gone taking Ryou Bakura's body with him. Yugi was left with nothing. Shattered.

* * *

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

* * *

Woe. Intensity.

Yo peeps. I like totally just wrote the ending of this fic. And it makes me really happy. Seriously, I know, after reading _this_ chapter its hard to feel happy about anything… maybe that tells you all something…

God I love this fic.

I'm totally thinking of a sequel.

Which is weird, I know.

**REVIEW!!**

**REVIEW!!**


	9. I'd Savor Each Lash

I'm updating. Yay.

Seriously.

I got a peep in the room. She says hi, as she giggles at my ff. (shutup)

I thought I would update Empathy cause I was so late updating Contamination, but I don't think many people read both… it's the thought that counts.

Epicness.

* * *

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

**Chyaputa 9: I'd Savor Each Lash**

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

* * *

There was nothing else to do.

Yugi approached his Yami's soulroom.

He had nowhere else to go.

The golden handle was cold but turned smoothly when Yugi opened the door.

The soul room beyond was dark, but Yugi did not allow himself to hesitate in the doorway. Instantaneously, as though the room had been waiting for him, the light flooded into the space.

/Aibou!/

Yami no Yugi was standing. Not too far away but with enough distance for caution's sake. Yugi, because he was insane, closed that distance in five seconds.

The former pharaoh was stunned. After so much time in isolation, to have his aibou come rushing up to him? But, of course, he would greet his long-lost lighter half with open arms. That would never change. Yugi stood barely an inch from his Yami's metaphysical chest, looking hazily at the pharaoh's shoulders…

'Mou hitori no boku…' Why were those words so easy? Perhaps because Yugi hadn't said them in such a long time… perhaps because he was insane.

/Yes, aibou?/ Yami no Yugi was all too eager to comply. Desperately so.

Yugi did not want to be here. He wanted to run. He couldn't stand him own arms as they held themselves around the image of Yami no Yugi's waist. 'I'm sorry.'

/It's ok./ And Yami no Yugi embraced his hikari back.

But Yugi wasn't done. 'I'm…' And he tilted his head up. But he didn't look at his Yami's eyes. No. Yugi went straight for the point. He "kissed" the air where, if they both had physical bodies, Yami no Yugi's lips would have been.

And in Yugi there was an explosion of memory. All the walls came down between there minds. The clothes came off. And Yugi and his poor un-suspecting Yami were in the midst of several kisses, several groping hands, twining sweaty arms, and… other significant fleshy appendages… Yugi and Yami were both naked, squeezed up against another body, grasping and groaning with ecstasy and erupting feeling…

Then there were tears coming down the Yami's and Yugi's cheeks as Yami no Bakura was biting another insult and sour remark. Then Yugi, his Yami, and Yami no Bakura were in the school cafeteria discussing Ryou's adventures the night before, and how the Yadounushi was a disappointment and how really he was actually very smart. Yami no Bakura had Yugi and his Yami by the hair as he bit of their body. And Yami no Bakura was calling the two of them naïve and obnoxious and weak and how their eyes were nice because they reminded him of Yadounushi's…

Yugi tore out of the mess. Shivering.

They had left the soulroom a while ago. Now they were in the hallway between minds and Yami no Yugi was paler than snow.

Yugi gulped, trembling as he backed away. 'I-I t-told y-you… I'm sorry.'

Yami no Yugi was standing, which was something… He turned his head and gazed at Yugi as though in amazement.

Then, slowly, the spirit reached out a hand.

/It's okay, aibou./

He would say that.

But Yugi panicked, as they both knew he would. His only escape was to the conscious world. And he flew from the confinement of his caring, brilliant, handsome, sexy, concerned, loyal other mind.

Yugi threw the Puzzle off his neck, flinging it from himself as though it burned. This was not over. Yugi had confessed but there was no escaping the guilt now. It consumed. It hurt. Yugi had to do something about it. In time it would get better. They would work it out eventually… But time was something Yugi could not wait for.

He needed someone. Someone who wouldn't care or hold him. Someone who would get him out of his head…

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

From one door to another. All in the same day. Almost the same hour. Yugi couldn't stop himself, he couldn't even wait for the elevator. So he ran up six flights of stairs and wrapped his knuckles on Ryou's apartment door. Ryou was usually asleep by now; it was almost one in the morning. Would he be in the midst of one of his fantasy dreams again?

Yugi didn't even consider if it was too soon for him to see Yami no Bakura again. Need and selfishness were his only drives at the moment.

Luckily it wasn't long before Ryou appeared, in striped pajamas. Barefoot. And he stopped mid yawn when his large brown eyes spotted Yugi at his doorstep. "Yugi-kun?"

"Sorry," Yugi gasped. "I'm so sorry. I-" But Yugi couldn't say it. It was too embarrassing. Ryou was his friend after all. Would he be jealous to hear that Yugi and his Yami had…

Ryou, like the perceptive guy he was, noticed Yugi's distress. "Here, come in."

Yugi nodded and rushed in. Ryou flicker a switch and the dinky apartment lights came on. Yugi twitched. "I hope I'm not… interrupting anything."

Interrupting… what?

Ryou shook his head. "No, I was up. I can't seem to get to sleep."

Yugi nodded, still occupied with his own thoughts.

"What is it, Yugi-kun? You don't look ok," Ryou asked, sitting down cross-legged on the sofa.

Yugi paced, fighting off his guilt and nausea. He had to say it, he had to say it, he had to say it… "Can I speak with your other half, Ryou-kun?"

Ryou's eyes widened. Even _he_ hadn't seen this one coming. "Mou hitori no boku?"

Yugi bit his lip. "Yeah…" The questions would come next. How would Yugi explain this?

Ryou was still and calm in contrast. "Why do you want to speak to him?"

"It's…" Yugi paced. "Private."

"Oh." Ryou was thoughtful. Yugi didn't know if he was attempting to contact his other personality or just thinking. "I wish I could help."

Yugi bit the inside of his mouth.

"Really," Ryou continued, blinking slowly. "But I've never consciously contacted him before."

"Could you try?" Yugi asked. Pleading. If he couldn't speak to Yami no Bakura… what he going to do?

Ryou was silent again. Still staring intensely at his guest. Yugi bit his cheek harder.

"Yugi-kun," Ryou mentioned, not lifting his eyes from Yugi. "I don't really think I can."

"What do you mean?" Yugi questioned. He hoped he didn't sound hostile or impatient.

Ryou shrugged. "We don't contact each other."

"But you can," Yugi insisted. He didn't understand Ryou's reasoning, which was odd because usually Ryou was clear. "You _can_ contact him."

"You don't understand, I can't," Ryou said. "We don't do that."

"What the- _do you mean_?" Yugi argued. He didn't understand why this was so difficult.

"I've…" Ryou hesitated. "I've never spoken to him, Yugi-kun."

"But you can-" Yugi continued. "Please, Bakura-kun, I really, really have to speak to him-"

"I _can't_," Ryou insisted. "You don't understand! We _aren't_ like you two."

And now Yugi stopped. Swallowed. He had never heard Ryou raise his voice before.

Ryou breathed and his eyes finally dropped. "I've never spoken to him. Never. We don't talk to each other, ok? I can't just… force him out. Don't you think I would if I could?"

Yugi was hesitating now. "What do you mean…?"

Ryou sighed, hands on the sides of his face in a look of loss. "You have a Yami, Yugi-kun. I'm sure you can guess."

'Oh.' Yugi looked away. 'Then… Ryou likes his Yami too, then?'

"I'm sorry, Ryou-kun," Yugi apologized. "I shouldn't have pushed."

There would be no talking to Yami no Bakura now. Yugi had lost him forever.

Ryou stood. "Sorry I couldn't be more help."

Yugi tried a smile. "That's ok." And Yugi headed to the door thinking it was time for him to leave.

"Yugi-kun," Ryou called him back.

Yugi turned to his friend. "Yes?"

Ryou took a step forward. "What is your relationship with my Yami?"

Yugi jumped. Nausea. He had to lie. He couldn't tell Ryou what… "I just wanted to talk with him."

"Oh." Ryou nodded. His eyes, those blunt clear eyes, were off in a corner, not looking at Yugi. Then Ryou took another step closer and, stranger still, slid his hand into Yugi's. "Your nails are always chipped." His eyes went dull as he brought Yugi's fingers up to his mouth.

"What- what do you-"

But the grip on his wrist was tight as Ryou brushed Yugi's fingertips against his lips. Maybe it had been an accident. "In my dreams… there are nails exactly like these…"

Yugi was too confused and too surprised. Ryou's eyes were on him now, which was normal, but they weren't really looking at him. They were looking for something in his face. So Ryou closed his eyes as though that would help him think, and his forehead met Yugi's, the tips of their noses bumped awkwardly…

Yugi stood as still as possible. As Ryou put his lips on Yugi's mouth.

It was a motionless action that lasted no more than a few second. Ryou tasted much different than his Yami. Tangy.

Then Ryou jumped away and his eyes snapped open. "Oh." He let go of Yugi entirely and his hand went to his mouth. "I thought…" Ryou's brown eyes were round. "I see."

Yugi had a realization of his own. "Oh no, Bakura-kun…"

"It was you in my dreams too then," Ryou concluded. His voice as steady as a brick.

Yugi bit his lip. Just like Malik, did Ryou… Yami no Bakura had questioned his Yadonushi's crush on Malik because of the Yami's previous sexual encounters… But then, during Yugi's and Yami no Bakura's affair… had Ryou Bakura also developed feelings for him?

Ryou spin around, hiding his expression from Yugi. "I'm ok."

"I'm so sorry, Bakura-kun," Yugi pleaded earnestly this time. "I'm so _so_ sorry-"

"I'm ok." This time his words were firm. "You can go now."

Guilt. It was worse than before. But Yugi couldn't stop it. He left Bakura Ryou's apartment and waited for the elevator down the hall. It wasn't fair, hurting Bakura Ryou like that. The guy had done nothing wrong. Only dreamed, and wondered, and trusted his closest friend with his cherished darker personality.

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

Yugi stayed home from school the next day. Convincing his mother and grandfather that he was ill was easy. He was apparently paler than usual.

The Puzzle had spent its night on the floor next to a basket of clothes.

Yugi had been staring at it all day.

There was after all no one else left to talk to. So about midday, Yugi crawled off his bed onto the floor and approached the ominous thing.

The moment his fingers brushed its golden surface Yugi was yanked out of his consciousness and pulled into the hallway in between soulrooms.

Yugi was shocked to find his Yami dragging him bodily- or soully- into the boy's soulroom, away from the conscious world.

'Mou hitori no boku!' Yugi cried. 'What are you doing?!'

The Yami would not speak until he had tossed Yugi into the soulroom full of toys and shut the door tight. The two of them in a metaphysical enclosed space. /I'm making it so you can't escape again/ the Yami explained.

'What?' Yugi said weakly, remaining on his soulroom floor in a pathetic lump.

His yami was standing in front of the door, barring the escape. /Now you can't run away./

Yugi gaped. 'Mou hitori no boku…'

And the walls of Yugi's soulroom turned sagging blue with guilt and sorrow as the boy burst into howling sobs.

The Yami dashed to Yugi's side, abandoning his duty as door watch. He did not attempt to touch Yugi in any way but his body language was nothing but supportive. /Aibou… I love you…/

'_Don't_ say that!' Yugi screamed. As he sobbed and sobbed and sobbed…

/Ok, ok, I won't./ The pharaoh agreed. /Promise./

Yugi continued to cry for a long while. And the soulroom's wall shook with each scream. There was no sense of time in the soulroom but it seemed to last several days to Yugi. He stopped eventually when he felt the outside world shake. Someone in reality was trying to contact Yugi's physical body.

Yami no Yugi was watchful. /No./

Yugi sniffed. 'Mom's going to think I'm in a coma if I don't wake up.'

The pharaoh frowned. /I'll get rid of her./

Yugi coughed. 'She's my mother. She'll be able to tell the difference between us.'

Yami no Yugi leaned in very close. His determined expression was haunting. /Just this once. Please, aibou. I can't let you go yet, not…/ But the spirit stopped himself. /Please, aibou./

Guilt. Horror. Yugi put his face back into his hands. It's not like he had the right to deny Yami no Yugi anything anymore. 'Ok.'

/I'll be back really soon. As fast as I can./

Yugi nodded. He couldn't look at his other personality yet. 'I know. I trust you.'

Yugi didn't know what impact his words had been on his other personality but when he looked up again he was alone in his soulroom. Time in their soulrooms moved much faster than the outside world. Still it was not long until the Yami returned and was at Yugi's side once again.

'Your mom brought you soup, if your stomach can keep it down,' the Yami delivered. 'And I… I put the Puzzle on.' The spirit fidgeted. 'Is that ok?'

Yugi sniffed. He had missed his other half. 'It's your body too.'

The Yami did not answer. It was an argument for another time. For now the spirit of the Pharaoh sat next to his host, though still resisting to touch him. It was considerate… and yet so sad.

/Aibou/ Yami no Yugi spoke, looking down at the floor of his aibou's soulroom. /I'll be ok. You don't have to worry about me…/

Yugi blinked.

/I mean… I understand. I've been dead for while and you…/ the spirit was looking more ancient by the second. /You are young. And alive./

Yugi shook himself. 'What are you talking about?'

/If you…/ The Yami hesitated and Yugi saw that the spirit's hands gripping his knees rather tightly. /If you truly love him… I'll be ok with that- I mean, it will take some getting used to but I won't stop you-/

'Love who?' Yugi asked.

Yami no Yugi's jaw twitched as he said, /Bakura's darker half./

Yugi choked. '_Me_? Him-? I _don't_ love him.'

/You don't have to lie to me-/

'I'm not!' Yugi insisted. 'I don't even like him that much!'

It was clear from the mix of pity and pride on his Yami's face that the pharaoh did not believe Yugi one bit. /Then why would you…?/

Yugi hugged his arms, turning his eyes away. 'That's why I couldn't face you. I… was just being selfish.' Yugi felt the guilt raising up in him again. 'And I hurt you… only for my pleasure…'

The Yami was silent. Yugi thought he might know what was going on in darker half's thoughts. If Yugi had loved Bakura their activities would have been reasonable. But why? Why had Yugi gone so far? Why had Yugi instigated…?

'Here,' Yugi reached out a guilty hand. It shivered in the air, inches from the Yami's shoulder. 'I'll show you how it started. When the Puzzle was stolen…'

Yugi let his fingers fall to his Yami's metaphysical shoulder and again their two souls were fused together to experience Yugi's intimate moments in that castle. Meeting and planning with Yami no Bakura to retrieve the Puzzle, sneaking inside the castle, getting captured, the "false" sexual exchange to disguise their escape… their goodbye kiss. It was all conveyed within on second.

Yugi drew away again when it was all over.

His Yami hadn't even twitched.

'You see, by the time you came onto me after the bus ride, I had already… with Yami no Bakura…' Yugi explained.

The soulroom grew cold.

'I know you are mad,' Yugi spoke, fearing silence.

/I'm not mad/ the Yami shook his head. Yugi had known he was going to say that.

'Yes you are!' Yugi cried, shaking himself. 'I know I hurt you! I know I'm an idiot! But I couldn't help-' Yugi didn't even know what he was saying. He had no excuse. Nothing could null his guilt. 'I'm sorry.'

There were a few more moments, hours in soulroom time. Yugi was rigid with fear, if his Yami never spoke to him again…

/I'm not mad/ the Pharaoh reasoned. /I'm confused./

Yugi nodded. At least that was something. But nothing had been solved yet.

/You said once to the other Bakura/ the spirit began. /No one else would do. You wouldn't do it with anyone else./

Yugi shrunk to the floor. He wished he hadn't shown his Yami everything he had done with Yami no Bakura. 'He was the only one who understood about loving someone you couldn't touch…'

/And so you felt attracted to him/ the Pharaoh concluded.

Yugi gulped. 'Not like you…'

The spirit graced Yugi with his full stare now. The red in his eyes was full of fire. /Aibou, you cannot compare us. We are different to you./

'No,' Yugi protested but his Yami held up a hand.

/Hear me out. I am your other half. I do not have a body, but I know you love me very much./

'More than anyone,' Yugi countered.

/But/ the spirit continued diplomatically. /We both know we can't… satisfy each other in every way. It is our curse./

The guilt was consuming. Why did Yugi's Yami have to know so much? Why did he have to love Yugi so much? It wasn't fair.

/Bakura… can satisfy you/ Yami no Yugi concluded. /It would be unfair of me to ask you to ignore that part of your humanity./

'But it isn't fair,' Yugi argued. 'Not for you. And it's too easy for me.'

Yami no Yugi's eyes shifted. /I don't mind./

Yugi shook his head. 'No. It can't work like that. I know you won't say it, but it hurts you, and it hurts _me_ too. This whole thing has been unhealthy… I missed you. No, I- I'm not me without you. I- can't believe I did this to you- to us!'

The spirit's expression relaxed. /You want to feel guilty, but I'm just glad that I can speak to you again./

'It's not enough,' Yugi insisted shuffling away. 'I wish…' And he felt ashamed admitting this. 'I wish I could give you everything. All of me.'

/I know/ the spirit said. /But that's not possible./

Yugi squeezed his arms. 'You're too good to me. I don't deserve you.'

The spirit leaned, but still did not touch Yugi's form. /I wouldn't take anyone else./

His words broke Yugi's heart.

So his Yami wouldn't take anyone else. But he didn't spend as much time interacting with the outside world as Yugi did. Yugi was the spirit's world. Of course he wouldn't take anyone else! He didn't know anyone else… And if he did… Yugi didn't think he would be able to take his spirit dating someone! Going out and doing stuff with Yugi's body…

_Their_ body.

Tears were working their way into Yugi's throat again. Yes. He was a fool. He was the most selfish fool. 'When did I become such a horrible person?'

Perhaps the spirit couldn't hold back anymore. Perhaps Yugi's confession had triggered the Yami's overprotective instincts. But Yugi was swept up into Yami no Yugi's arms. Against those air-light arms and chest that wasn't warm or cold or felt like anything at all.

/You don't deserve this, aibou/ Yami said, eyes squeezed shut and his face close to his Hikari's. /If I could release you- /

'Don't talk like that!' Yugi cried, folding his illusionary body closer to his Yami's.

/No one's had to go through what you have./

No. And the realization came as such a shock that Yugi's soulroom walls shuddered. No. There was one, more than one, person that understood. Bakura, Bakura Ryou, Malik, hell, probably Yami no Malik too, they all shared the same curse.

And at that moment Yugi couldn't think of a single solution. Perhaps, for them, there was no way out.

* * *

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

* * *

So yeah. Yugi told Atemu everything. I hope by the end of this story people will stop hating Atemu. He's not a bad guy.

I fucking love Ryou. I fucking love Ryou. I fucking love Ryou.

NEXT CHAPTER!!: Yugi faces consequences of life returning to normal. Malik's trying so hard.

**REVIEW!!**


	10. Hell, No, No, I Won’t Let Them Take You

_GUUAAAAAAAHH!!! _

They changed my ff . net format. (sobs) I liked my old page. I don't know where anything is now… (mourns)

Boo.

This only proves: how facebook goes, so does the world.

* * *

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

**Chyaputa 10: Hell, No, No, I Won't Let Them Take You**

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

* * *

"Yuuuuuuugi?" one overly-excited blond dove for him.

Yugi, being still in a rather guilty mood, let the larger boy tackle him. "Jounouchi!" Yugi cried as he was lifted into the air. "What's up?"

"Arcade sound good?" the blond was practically bouncing with anticipation.

"We went to the arcade yesterday," Anzu said.

"_Yeah_." Jounouchi swung around with Yugi still hanging over his shoulder. "And today we'll go again. Won't we, Yugi?"

"Sounds like fun," Yugi agreed.

Honda came up behind them, grabbing Anzu's shoulders. "Why? What would you like us to do, Anzu? Go shopping? Get manicures?"

Anzu brushed him off. "Just because Yugi can't say no to anything anymore…"

Though Yugi was mostly upside down at the moment, his stomach defied gravity and jumped up into his small intestines.

"It's ok," Yugi said. "I'll go shopping with you on Saturday if you want, Anzu."

Anzu frowned. "I think I'm busy." And they all left it at that.

They all knew, of course, that it was true. Yugi couldn't say no to them. He was trying to make up for the last two months, when he had hung out with Ryou almost every day…

Life had returned to normal. Back to the good old days when Yugi, Jounouchi, Honda, and Anzu were inseparable and they hung out with fun little gaming adventures full of not-sex and completely platonic playing.

And just as in the good old days, Bakura was their side character, special appearance in selected scenes. He was there in homeroom and across the lunchroom and at gym… it wasn't that Yugi was purposely ignoring him. It was just that the thought of going within ten feet of Ryou Bakura's body, and the two souls it held, terrified the teenage boy.

/I'm sure the normal Bakura has forgiven you by now,/ Yami no Yugi assured.

'I don't want to chance it,' Yugi thought but they both knew, now that their thoughts were free flowing and mingling once again, that Yugi was just running from his guilt.

/Bakura understands,/ the spirit of the Puzzle said.

'I know he does,' Yugi avoided, but that didn't stop him from bending his head low as they past by each other in the hall.

The spirit was relentless. /Do you think the other Bakura will attack you if you approach him?/

Yugi twitched. 'I'm sure he doesn't give a damn about me anymore.'

The spirit's silence was its own clever comeback. Yugi bit the inside of his cheek hard.

"Hey, Yugi!"

Jounouchi and the others had been leading him down from the school doors, when Malik Ishtar, of all people, ran up beside their group. "Hey, Yugi can I talk to you?"

Yugi ducked his head down, ordering his short legs to take longer steps. He didn't want to talk to Malik.

Jounouchi noticed how Yugi had not greeted Malik in the same cordial fashion. "What do you want, Malik?" He made his don't-touch-my-friend-stance. Honda joined him. They all remembered what had happened at Battle City, not that they hadn't forgiven Malik for it, or said they had forgiven him.

Malik pulled his hands up in surrender. "Look, I just want to talk, ok? I feel really bad and I want to apologize to Yugi, that's it."

"Apologize for what exactly?" Honda asked, baring his fists.

Anzu had Yugi by the shoulders. Her closeness only made Yugi more anxious. "Why don't you come back later," Anzu suggested, trying to steer Yugi away.

Malik's face softened. He tried to side step Jounouchi and Honda. "I'm sorry, Yugi, ok? I'm really, really sorry. I wasn't trying to mess everything up between you and—"

"Shut up," Yugi cried. It had been instinct.

Honda step forward, getting in Malik's way. "You can go now."

"I'm not going anywhere. Yugi has to understand!"

And then Jounouchi shoved Malik backwards. "Leave him the hell alone!"

Malik shoved the blond back, causing the guy to trip and land on his butt on the sidewalk. "I'm sorry!" Malik shouted, diving towards Yugi. Honda stopped him from getting too far. "I mean it! It was an accident! I didn't want you two to break up—"

"SHUT UP!"

This time Yugi had screamed.

Anzu's hands jerked off his shoulders. Jounouchi jumped back on his feet to throw his fist in Malik's face. The Egyptian's body shook from receiving the blow.

"_Stop it_!"

Before Jounouchi could raise his fist again, or Honda could hold Malik again, Bakura Ryou jumped in front of Malik.

His brown eyes were clear. "Stop it, Jounouchi! Leave Malik _alone_."

Malik's was transfixed by his rescuer. His face was glowing with awe for Ryou.

"He was attacking Yugi!" Jounouchi cried. Jounouchi had never yelled at Ryou before. No one yelled at Ryou.

"Oh god," Yugi moaned, holding his stomach.

'What have I done? I've destroyed everything.'

/Aibou…/

And Yugi's vision blurred in the sudden onslaught t of tear bursting from his eyes.

Anzu touched his arm. "Yugi?"

Jounouchi, Honda turned to look at him, and their fists fell at the sight of his face.

A hand to his bruised cheek, Malik released a sympathetic, "Yugi…"

Bakura Ryou's clear eyes turned on him, though the boy said nothing.

Yugi couldn't take it. The way Bakura Ryou stood fearlessly to protect Malik. How Ryou looked him straight in the eye…

"Yugi, what's wrong?" Jounouchi rushed to his side and put his hands on Yugi's shoulders. "What's been going on? Just tell us, ok?"

Impossible. How embarrassing this was. Crying in front of the school. How many people had stopped to watch?

Was Yami no Bakura watching?

Doubtlessly.

Yugi pushed Jounouchi's arms away. "Shut up." He was a broken record. "Shut up."

"Yugi?"

"Just—" Yugi choked. "Just— shut up!" And he ran from the school yard.

But not before he saw Bakura Ryou turning to put a comforting hand on Malik's face…

The tears made it hard to see. His sobs made it hard to breathe. Yugi wanted to be nowhere. He wanted to run. He wanted to stop crying! He wanted… he wanted…

Yugi crashed his body into the nearest bus stop bench. The body heaved for air. His skin was clammy with sweat and… Yugi bent over his knees, leaning his swollen eyes to the ground…

/Aibou…/

Yugi dropped into the unconscious world. His other half was waiting for him. Yugi's head was in his metaphysical arms, both their illusionary bodies sprawled out on the floor. The spirit of the puzzle stroked Yugi's hair repeatedly like meditation. Though his ghost fingers made on impression on the locks. The soulroom walls sagged and whimpered gray.

'I want…' The words fell out of Yugi's mouth. 'I want…'

The Yami could not hush him.

This wasn't helping. His Yami's comfort only reminded Yugi of how pathetic he was at that moment.

But then, what did he need…?

What did he want?

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

The body had made it home because of Yami no Yugi. Yugi went to dinner and gave the body nutrients, and to assure his mother and grandfather that he was still breathing. Then he went up to his room and slept.

When Yugi emerged from his soulroom, the body was already in motion, jumping out of a bus.

They were outside of a very familiar apartment building…

'No!' Yugi cried, clutching the doorframe of his soulroom.

But Yami no Yugi's increasing stride did not waver.

'No! We can't go back there!' Yugi screamed. 'Please, mou hitori no boku.'

/Do you expect me to watch you cry everyday, aibou?/ the spirit of the Puzzle said. /Do you expect me to just stand by as you destroy yourself?/

Yugi launched himself into the consciousness. 'I'm not destroying myself!' It took all of his will but he managed to grab a hold of his physical legs and tripped them, causing the body to fall to ground. 'I was destroying myself before! I'm trying to make things better now!'

/I _can't_ see you unhappy!/ and the Yami gently, as though slipping his fingers under Yugi's frantic grip, prided the body's leg control from Yugi's will. /I will _not_ let you be unhappy./

Yugi gave up the control. 'I can't speak to him.'

The body rose again and pressed the up button on the elevator. /No. _I_ will speak to him./

Tremors raced through Yugi's consciousness.

After the longest elevator ride Yugi had ever been on, Yami no Yugi walked the body to the door of Ryou Bakura's apartment.

'Please don't,' Yugi moaned. 'Mou hitori no boku…'

The Yami knocked on the door.

Yugi froze in anticipation.

But no one answered.

Relief seeped into Yugi. 'Maybe… they're not home…'

The Yami frowned and knocked again, louder this time.

This time laughter echoed from within the room.

Yugi and his Yami's guard was shook.

There was the sound of someone being shushed, then the door opened, Bakura Ryou appearing in the crack of the door.

The boy was wearing nothing but a large T-shirt.

"Yugi!" Bakura Ryou said, his pale eyebrows shooting up.

Something clattered to the floor inside. "Yugi?" That was Malik's voice.

Not taking his eyes off of his visitor's face, Bakura clarified. "The other Yugi."

Malik's head appeared over Ryou's shoulder. "Big Yugi?"

'Oh…' Yugi burned with shame. So they had interrupted…

His Yami didn't get it. /Interrupt what?/

"Um…" Bakura Ryou tugged on the end of his T-shirt. "What are you doing here?"

And to Yugi's chagrin, his Yami bowed. "I deeply apologize for interrupting."

Malik fought and failed to keep a smile off his face. Bakura Ryou only blinked. "It's ok." Then he looked meaningfully at Malik, stopping the Egyptian's chuckle. "Would you like to come in?"

Yami no Yugi nodded before Yugi could warn him otherwise.

Malik ducked back into the room to tidy up. Bakura Ryou stalled the Yami at the door.

"So… how have you been?"

"We are taking it slow," Yami no Yugi answered.

Bakura Ryou tugged his T-shirt down again. "And how are you doing specifically?"

Surprise echoed through the Yami's soulroom to Yugi's thoughts. Why should he be shocked to find Ryou Bakura was concerned about him? Yugi was concerned about him, but didn't have the courage to ask how he was holding up to all of this.

"Not unwell," the Yami answered, awkwardly.

Bakura Ryou nodded.

Malik tapped Bakura Ryou on the shoulder to signal the room was clear.

/Clear of what?/ the Yami asked his aibou, confused.

Yugi chose not to answer.

Though Malik had had a few moments to clear the worst of the evidence away, the room looked pretty trashed. The most noticeable features were the overturned coach and open bowl of whip cream and strawberries on the table.

'I guess they are together,' Yugi thought in awe.

/Sexually?/ his Yami asked, the truth just hitting him.

Yugi sighed. 'Yes, mou hitori no boku, sexually.'

Bakura Ryou took a certain amount of caution sitting down on a chair at the table. Malik grabbed the bowl of cream and strawberries and slipped it into the fridge before standing diligently by the white-haired boy's chair. He was wearing, what looked like, Bakura Ryou's pants.

Yami no Yugi sat in a chair at the table as well. "I am glad to see that you have gotten over aibou."

Malik jumped. "_What_?"

'Mou—' Yugi couldn't believe— the boy burned with shame. '_Don't_ say thing like that! Not in front of Malik!'

Yami no Yugi's mood dropped again. "Apparently I have said something wrong."

Bakura Ryou put a comforting hand on Malik's arm, and released a smile. "It's nothing we haven't already discussed."

Malik gripped Bakura Ryou's shoulder, jaw stiff.

'Do you have any social skills?' Yugi asked.

/Why should I? I only communicate with you,/ the spirit of the Puzzle answered.

Guilt struck Yugi's stomach again.

"Did your coalition happen today?" Yami no Yugi asked, without thinking. Perhaps he was more nervous than he appeared. Perhaps he was reluctant to talk about why he had come here today.

Malik flushed, his bad mood was gone at least. Bakura Ryou nodded. "Yes, after school."

So Jounouchi's attack on Malik had caused the two to finally get together. Yugi got queasy just thinking about the fight after school.

Malik leaned forward. "Speaking of which, could you tell Yugi…"

Yami no Yugi put up a hand. "We understand, Malik. There was no malicious intent on your half towards aibou during that time in the cafeteria. You were only trying to infuriate the other Bakura."

Malik shrugged. "Yeah… that was about it."

Yugi nudged his Yami's consciousness. 'Could you tell Malik something for me…?'

"Aibou would also like to apologize for the way Jounouchi and the others treated you this afternoon. He is very ashamed that he didn't stop them from hurting you."

Malik grinned. "No hard feelings. I got a much better deal out of it anyway," he said touching Bakura Ryou on the arm.

Yugi felt only a little bit better.

Bakura Ryou sat up a little straighter in his chair. "Is Yugi here right now?"

And though Yugi urged the Yami not to tell… "Yes. He's listening."

"But he doesn't want to speak to me," Bakura Ryou assumed. His head bowed. "Not that he is to blame."

That wasn't it at all. 'Everything is my fault. You did nothing, Bakura-kun.' Yugi communicated this to his Yami.

"Aibou would like to apologize to you as well, Bakura," Yami no Yugi said. "He says you are not to blame. He would have said so in person but he was too afraid of your other personality to come out and see you."

'That's not what I said,' Yugi thought.

His Yami did not answer.

Bakura Ryou nodded. He did understand. "Then why are you here, mou hitori no Yugi?"

Yami no Yugi paused. Yugi too waited for his answer.

"I believe the subject I came to talk about would be inappropriate with the current company," the spirit of the Puzzle explained.

Yugi touched his Yami's thoughts curiously, looking for the real answer, but the spirit resisted. Out of respect, Yugi back down.

Bakura Ryou thought about this as Malik twisted a finger in his white hair. Then Bakura Ryou said, "Did you want to speak to mou hitori no boku?"

Both Malik and Yugi started.

'I already tried that…' Yugi reminded him.

"I know aibou came here before, attempting the same thing and failed," the Yami explained, "But I _have_ to speak to him. I thought if I challenged him his pride might cause him to show."

'Oh, mou hitori no boku…' Yugi put his metaphysical hand to the Yami's soulroom door.

"But now I see," the spirit lifted his eyes to look at Malik's hand in Bakura Ryou's hair, "This is a bad time. I don't want to ruin your happy day, especially after all you've been through, Bakura."

Bakura Ryou smiled. "That's very kind of you, mou hitori no Yugi."

Warmth, subtle but still noticeable, colored the spirit's soulroom. Yugi was glad. His darker half was hardly ever acknowledged as being separate from Yugi by others. Jounouchi, Honda, and Anzu never tried to make the distinction.

The warmth was spreading. Yami no Yugi stood up. "We should go."

Bakura Ryou stood as well. "I'm glad you stopped by."

Yami no Yugi's emotions rippled.

"Yeah, if you two need anything," Malik said, as he stepped to Ryou Bakura's side and took his lover's hand. "Don't hesitate to ask. We used to be you guys once."

Yugi's emotions spasmed.

Yes, Bakura and Malik used to be like Yugi. In love with someone they couldn't touch. In love with someone out of out their reach. Then found love and understanding with one another.

Just like…

Yugi dashed into his soulroom, slamming the door behind him

Thinking was dangerous.

How? How had Bakura Ryou and Malik found each other? With so many obstacles between them? How had they even realized they could love each other…?

How could Yugi…?

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

Yugi was back at school the next day. He had made Jounouchi and Honda apologize to Malik, like he should have done the day before. Malik was just about dancing off the walls anyway so it didn't matter. As long as he had Bakura Ryou's hand in his.

Yugi watched the two from afar, because he still didn't want to get too close to the one who was lurking behind Bakura Ryou's eyes, although the boy hadn't seen the other Bakura in nearly a mouth now. School was passing him by. Yugi found it hard to concentrate on homework so his classes were slipping away too. His Yami helped him with his homework, though the spirit didn't know much about the material, but he tried to keep Yugi focused.

Yugi wasn't happy. But he wasn't terribly unhappy either.

It was a Friday before summer break that Yugi was ambushed at his locker.

"Hello."

Yugi jumped as Bakura Ryou materialized barely a foot away from him.

"B-Bakura-kun!" Yugi shot backwards but the cold metal of the lockers would not let his retreat any further. "Hi."

"Good afternoon," Malik greeted, inching to Bakura Ryou's side.

Yugi waved shyly at him.

Bakura Ryou turned to his boyfriend, a look on warning on his lips. "Malik, I told you. I'm doing this alone."

Yugi gulped. "Do what alone?" Alone with Bakura? Definitely _not_ a good idea. No way.

/Calm, aibou. Ryou doesn't mean any harm,/ his Yami soothed.

It wasn't _him_ that Yugi was worried about. And since when had the spirit of the Puzzle call Bakura by his first name?

"I won't say anything, Ryou," Malik said. "It will be like I was never there."

Bakura Ryou stretched up on his toes and pecked his lover on the mouth.

Yugi's brain fizzed.

"No," Bakura Ryou said firmly, still close to Malik's face. "This is about me and Yugi, ok?"

Malik sighed dramatically. "Very well." Then he grabbed Ryou's shoulders and leaned down, so their mouths were barely an inch from touching… "But if I find out later that you two had some hot affair I will get insanely jealous and kill you. You know that right?"

Bakura Ryou grinned. "I'd expect nothing less." And kissed Malik again. This time letting their mouths swish into each other…

Yugi looked away. God, they were still at school!

Malik pulled away, oblivious to stares of passing students. "Don't be away from me for too long, Ryou-darling."

Bakura Ryou pushed the nutty Egyptian away. Then he turned his attention back on Yugi. "Sorry, sometimes I get a little carried away. So, shall we go for a walk?"

Yugi peeled himself away from the lockers. "Are you sure about this?"

"Yes." Bakura Ryou held out his pinky. "I promise."

Yugi hooked his pinky on Bakura Ryou's. It was such a kid thing to do.

He followed the other boy outside and down the sidewalk from the school. They said nothing to each other for the moment.

/Perhaps he wants to help,/ Yami no Yugi suggested.

'Since when do you have so much faith in Bakura-kun?' Yugi asked.

/He's just… nice,/ the Yami reasoned.

Speaking of which, why was the other soul getting all warm again?

"Oh no," Yugi spoke, accidentally out loud.

"Sorry?" Bakura Ryou asked, confused.

"Nothing!" Yugi panicked.

'Oh you don't, mou hitori no boku!' Yugi whined. 'Oh god, you don't!'

/What?/ the Yami asked. /I don't what?/

Good. The Yami hadn't realized that he had a crush on… yet. Yugi breathed. But at the moment the boy had other things to focus on, like how Bakura Ryou was looking at him strangely. "Sorry, internal conversation, you know," Yugi explained.

Bakura Ryou's smile wavered.

'Oh shit! I forgot!' Yugi cried at himself. 'Bakura-kun doesn't talk to his other half like I do!'

/Say something to make him feel better,/ the Yami ordered.

'Be quite! I can't think with all your feelings!' Yugi pleaded.

"I'm sorry! That was a horrible thing to say!" Yugi apologized. "I didn't think before I spoke. I'm so sorry."

"Yugi-kun," Bakura Ryou put a hand on his shoulder. "It's ok. I'm glad you and mou hitori no Yugi are back on speaking terms."

That warmth glowed again from the spirit's soulroom. Yugi tried his best to ignore it. "Me too."

Bakura Ryou nodded. "So you've told him everything?"

Yugi hesitated. Was Bakura Ryou still thinking about his darker half too? Was this conversation too painful for him? "Everything."

"That's nice," Bakura Ryou said. His smile was genuine. "Actually the reason I wanted to speak with you was because…" Bakura Ryou's cheeks glowed, "I talked to him."

Bakura Ryou didn't have to clarify. Yugi knew who _he_ was. And it took Yugi's breath away thinking about it. "Gr-great. That's… really great!" Yugi hoped he didn't sound as false as he did in his head.

Bakura Ryou stopped walking then. He looked very serious. "I know it's hard for you to hear, but I wanted to tell you. Cause you understand, better than Malik."

"Hard to hear? Me? What are you talking about? I'm glad you two talked!" Now his voice was cracking.

Concern echoed from Bakura Ryou's expression.

But Yugi spoke before his friend could. "So how did it happen?"

Luckily, Bakura Ryou was all too eager to tell him. "It happened… well, the day Malik and I got together."

Yugi's gut wrenched unexpectedly. So when his Yami had rushed to Bakura's apartment it had only been hours, maybe _minutes_ after Yami no Bakura had appeared…

If his Yami had gotten there faster… if Yugi had skipped dinner that night…

"Yugi-kun, are you ok?" Bakura Ryou asked.

Yugi snapped out of it. But his hands were shaking… "Yeah, Yeah! So what happened next?"

Somberness couldn't help but run from Bakura Ryou's face. "Malik came to my apartment so I could look at his face where Jounouchi punched it and… well, as soon as we were alone in my apartment my vision vanished. I knew he had taken over but I couldn't stop him. But then a few moments later I was back in the body and Malik was alive." Bakura Ryou's couldn't contain his joy at the memory. "And I was standing there and _he_ said to me, 'Go have a fucking good time.'"

Yugi was sure those had been his exact words.

"He talked to me," Bakura Ryou repeated. "To _me_. I've been trying to talk to him forever and he just… spoke, to me, without me even having to ask."

The joy in Bakura Ryou's eyes was brilliant.

And Yugi's throat was clogging up.

/That's what he said?/ Yami no Yugi thought. /That's it? Nothing else? That jerk./

'You don't understand,' Yugi thought.

The Yami was silent after that.

"I asked Malik what happened," Bakura Ryou continued. "He said mou hitori no boku didn't do much. He yelled at Malik and told him to get out. But Malik wouldn't and said that…" Bakura Ryou's cheeks pinked, "He loved me and he would never give up until he had me. And then mou hitori no boku just let me back out…"

Yugi swallowed and swallowed. But it was getting hard to breath. And hard to keep his eyes from stinging…

"I'm sorry," Bakura Ryou had that pity look again. "I shouldn't have told you…"

No, Yugi had wanted to know.

Yugi's mind was blank as he fell forward, grabbing onto the taller boy's middle. Burying his face into Bakura Ryou's shoulder, smelling his hair… "I'm so happy for you, Bakura-kun." But Yugi was sobbing when he said this. "I'm so happy…"

The kind Bakura hugged Yugi back and let him sob into his shoulder. "I'm jealous of you, Yugi-kun. You've gotten to speak to him, held entire conversations, face-to-face with _him_. You'll speak to him more than I ever will. I'm so jealous."

Yugi wasn't hearing a word of it. He just sobbed and sobbed.

* * *

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

* * *

So yeah, let's here it for progression! YAY!

Yami's my new hero. No lie. He's such a good yami. Him and Malik. This is probably the most manly I'm ever made Malik, which isn't saying much… or is saying much, you know, which ever way you want to take it. :p

Yes, and no appearances from Yami no Bakura. I know. I'm sad too.

NEXT CHAPTER!: is exciting. You should read it.

**REVIEW!!**


	11. I'll Look Out for You, Till I Die

* * *

I think you all will like this chapter… I mean, I hope you do…

SHIT. I am BUSY! What's up with that?

Love you all, now READ.

* * *

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

**Chyaputa 11: I'll Look Out for You, Till I Die**

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

* * *

_For Mou Hitori no Yugi's Eyes Only_

The title was underlined, many times. The folded note was taped shut.

"Must be from Bakura-kun," Yugi guessed.

Warmth blossomed from the Yami's half of the brain. /You think so?/

Yugi sighed. This was getting old. Soon he'd figure it out… then what would Yugi do? "Perhaps it's a love letter."

/Don't be silly./ The warmth exploded.

Yugi closed his locker and worked his fingers under the note's seal.

The Yami stopped his hands. /Hey! That's for me. Only I get to read it./

Yugi rolled his eyes. 'Fine.' And let his consciousness fall back out of the body.

A few paces up and down the length of his soulroom was definitely enough time for the Yami to read the note at least three times. Yugi tried to feel for any raging emotions within the other soulroom but none came. Finally Yami no Yugi signaled it was ok to control the body again.

Yugi swung his bag onto his shoulder. 'So… what was the note about?'

/Ah…/ the Yami hesitated. There was no flood of warmth over-whelming the darker soul. Perhaps something in the note had bothered him. The spirit sounded confused. /I'm not really sure… I think you'll find out soon anyway./

That sounded ominous.

Yugi left the school and oddly, didn't see anyone. Jounouchi and Honda had cleaning duty. Anzu was hanging out with other friends, who were girls, strangely enough. Ryou and Malik were nowhere to be found, probably off together in some corner, or at Ryou's apartment already…

So Yugi squinted through the heavy light of afternoon, walking to his regular bus stop. That note was bothering him. Why would Bakura Ryou want to send the Yami a secret message? Unless… no… Were Bakura Ryou and his Yami conspiring something?

/Don't be silly,/ the Yami said. /You would have known by now./

Yes, he would have. There would have been a lot more heat in the mind.

/What do you mean by that?/

"Hey Yugi!"

Thankful for the distraction, Yugi turned to meet Jounouchi and Honda, running up the sidewalk toward him. "Hi guys, I thought you had cleaning duty."

"We do!" Honda said, pointedly nudging the blond in the side. "It's nothing Jounouchi, we're only going to get ourselves in trouble for bailing on our job."

"It's not nothing!" Jounouchi cried, swatting his friend away. "Look I saw Malik and Bakura, alright? Alone."

"Um…" Yugi paused, had Jounouchi not figured it out yet. "Well, they are going out, Jounouchi-kun. That's not necessarily uncommon."

Honda's jaw dropped. "They're going out? Like- like dating-dating?"

"Yeah, for a while now."

Honda looked stunned.

Jounouchi irritably brushed this fact away. "That's not the point!"

"Jounouchi!" Honda cried.

But he blond was relentless. "Look, I know when something is up. Honda if you had seen them you wouldn't be so cool about it. Something was wrong. Bakura did _not_ look ok. And Malik," Jounouchi turned to Yugi, urgency blaring in his face, "Malik looked like he did in Battle City."

Battle City… on the Battle Ship when Malik dueled…

'The other Malik?'

Yami no Bakura had mentioned the dangers of his Yadonushi and Malik dating.

This time hot fear attacked the mind from the Yami's soulroom. /We have to save Ryou!/

"You're sure, Jounouchi-kun? It was the other Malik?" Yugi asked, fighting the attack of heat in his mind.

Jounouchi couldn't have looked more serious. "I dueled him, _remember_? He nearly _killed_ me. I _know_ when he's out."

/What are you waiting for, aibou!?/ the spirit cried.

"Let's split up and find them," Yugi said. He brushed the Puzzle with his hands. "I'll go this way. You guys check around the school."

"But I saw them go that way." Jounouchi pointed to the school. "They went this way."

No, they hadn't. The Puzzle could not narrow down the exact location of other Items, but it had a sense of them. And there were no Sennen Items at the school at the moment. But Yugi had to keep Jounouchi and Honda out of danger. This was a Sennen Item matter, and Yugi didn't want to get his friends hurt.

"We need to check everywhere," Yugi insisted, already turning to run in the opposite direction that Jounouchi and Honda were going. "Call me if you find them, ok? Don't try attacking Yami no Malik on your own!"

Jounouchi and Honda ran back to the school, without complaint. As Yugi dashed over the sidewalk, Puzzle clutched in his hands, searching for a sign or a dangerous spike of shadow magic…

/Turn right!/ the spirit shouted, pressing against the consciousness. He was just as desperate to save Bakura Ryou, if not more…

Yugi followed the Yami's directions into a dark side of Domino. Into a building with shattered windows and a wall that looked recently exploded.

Yugi leapt inside the broken wall.

And there was Bakura Ryou, backed into a corner, with, unmistakably, Yami no Malik leaning over the pale boy. The Sennen Rod had been unsheathed, its dagger point precariously close to Bakura Ryou's neck.

"Get away from him!" Yugi flew to Bakura Ryou's side.

But before Yugi could get there a blast of shadow magic sprang upon him, smashing him to the floor. Yugi's ribs screamed.

"Yugi-kun!" Bakura Ryou cried.

"Now, now, pretty, pretty, we were having a conversation, were we not?" Yami no Malik seemed more pleased that Yugi had arrived. More prey for his malicious intentions?

Bakura Ryou's jaw locked. Yugi had never seen him in danger before, he had never witnessed his fearlessness, even when confronted by the sadistic maniac. "I love Malik."

"Love is such a relative word," Yami no Malik hissed, and slid the flat part of the Sennen Rod blade on Bakura Ryou's cheek. "Take it back, won't you?"

The Yami might have been threatening Bakura Ryou with string for all the concern he showed. "Malik loves me too. We're going to be happy together. We're going to have a good life-"

Yami no Malik slammed Bakura Ryou back against the wall. The pale boy's body shuddered. "Now if you don't stop talking, I really will have to cut you a bit."

"You can't reason with him, Bakura-kun!" Yugi shouted. The magic binding him to the floor was strong, he had never fought with shadow power himself, that was something his Yami did. Speaking of which, where was the Yami? Yugi was surprised he hadn't come out to take control of the body… What was going on?

"He is right," Yami no Malik mused, as he teased the blade of the knife around Bakura Ryou's ear, as though he was going to tear it off. "I despise reason."

"I know you love him too," Bakura Ryou continued. "He told me everything you two did. He doesn't hate you for it-"

"SHUT UP!" Yami no Malik's mood had turned for the worse. The golden blade was pressed up against Bakura Ryou's jugular vein, his pale skin creased around the metal. "YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT US!"

Through panic and fear, Yugi somehow broke the magical binds on his body. Perhaps the Puzzle had finally responded to him, or perhaps Yami no Malik was too distracted… But Yugi scrambled to his feet, launching himself at the knife was that so close to breaking through Bakura's flesh…

He had caught Yami no Malik by surprise, and managed to shove the blade away, into the wall, leaving only a shallow scratch on Bakura's skin. Bakura Ryou was fearless, but not an idiot. The moment Yugi got the blade away, Bakura Ryou fled from the corner, trying to pull Yugi with him, out of danger…

But Yami no Malik screamed. And shadow power ripped Yugi out of Bakura Ryou's grip, and threw the boy across the room. The air flew from Yugi's lungs when he crashed into the opposite wall.

"Yugi-kun!"

Apparently, Yami no Malik had changed targets.

"I know, Mutou Yugi," the Yami taunted, coolly as he made his way over to Yugi's crumpled body. "You were the one who started it. If you hadn't been fucking with Bakura, main personality wouldn't have strayed!" Malik's darker half, loomed over Yugi, muscles in his face convulsing as he fought with his own emotions. "You will see Hell first."

Yugi gasped for oxygen. But Yami no Malik was on top of him, the weight of him and his Item crushing Yugi's ribs, suffocating him…

A sparkle of golden light, somewhere around Yugi's field of vision. Perhaps it was only the oxygen leaving his brain…

"How presumptuous of you."

Yami no Malik was gone.

Yugi breathed.

And through his spinning brain, Yugi heard, "Your own light started this when I bedded him."

Yami no Bakura stood… Yami no Malik was snarling, separated from his Sennen Rod which had flown from his hands when Yami no Bakura had tossed him off of Yugi.

"And you know what?" Yami no Bakura's famous smirk played across his face. "Your light liked it too."

Yami no Malik launched himself at the other Yami, madness in his eyes.

Only to have Yami no Bakura smash the side of his head with a block of wood, a remnant of the exploded wall.

Malik's unconscious body dropped to the floor.

Yugi was in awe.

And even more wonderful, Yami no Bakura spun around, right towards Yugi, sprinting to his side. His black eyes were on him…

"Are you injured?"

Yugi worked his mouth a couple of times before he could produce sound. "Fine."

Yami no Bakura put a hand to Yugi's neck to check the bruises there. "Can you breathe? Your ribs…?"

Yugi flinched away. By instinct only.

Yami no Bakura did not miss the action. His jaw clenched, and he stood up, moving away.

"Wait," Yugi choked. He threw himself forward and caught Yami no Bakura's arm before he could go too far. "Don't go!"

The spirit of the Sennen Ring paused, but did not look at him. All Yugi could wish was don't change back into Bakura Ryou, don't change back, don't change back… Yugi held that pale arm in both hands now. He wouldn't let Bakura leave, not now, not now. He'd never let go.

"Don't go."

Further words failed. Yugi's grip was tight.

"Be careful," Yami no Bakura said. "You're going to regret what you say here."

Yugi swallowed. Regret? Perhaps. But he wasn't thinking about regret at the moment. Emotional chaos raged in his mind. "I miss you."

"Shut up."

"I miss you a lot."

"_Shut up_."

Yugi tugged Bakura Ryou's arm a little. "But I do…" Breathe, breathe…

"You miss sex."

"No!" Yugi cried.

"No?"

Yugi was on his back amongst the rumble of the broken wall. Yami no Bakura was on top of him, between his legs. The Yami's mouth hot as he bit Yugi's lips. And Yugi got handfuls of Bakura Ryou's hair and held on tight as the ancient spirit rocked him and hurt his skin. Yugi locked his tiny legs around Yami no Bakura's waist, like a kid playing piggy-back.

Yami no Bakura stopped his pursuits. "What are you doing?"

"Not letting you go." Yugi tightened his hold.

Yami no Bakura's body tensed. "How many times must I rape you before you leave me alone."

"It's not rape if I want it," Yugi argued.

Yami no Bakura's breath was like fire. "You don't want it with me."

"I do!"

Now Yami no Bakura's body recoiled, he was reconsidering his positioning. "Get off of me."

Yugi tucked his head in the nook of Yami no Bakura's neck. "No."

The Yami kicked and thrashed, scratching at Yugi's arms and legs. The ancient spirit was almost frantic. "Get off or I will _make_ you." This was a threat. The Sennen Ring throbbed against Yugi's chest.

"I miss you," Yugi repeated, as he was knocked to the floor again.

"Stop saying that, you _whore_!" Yami no Bakura snarled.

His cunning words didn't hurt Yugi anymore. "Bakura-kun and Malik are together. You said you'd never let that happen."

Yami no Bakura rattled Yugi's shoulders. "_Slut_!"

"It must have been awful letting him go-"

"Do you WANT me to _kill you_?" The Sennen Ring's shadow power punched Yugi in the gut. More bruises to explain tomorrow. Somehow he managed to hold on.

"He-" Yugi winced, "He was so happy when you spoke to him."

"I _know_!" Yami no Bakura was on all fours, screaming in Yugi's pulsing ear, the boy clinging to him from underneath. "I KNOW what's in Yadonushi's head! _He makes sure I know_ _what he feels_!"

The dark spirit that lived inside Bakura Ryou, rolled onto his side and was still. Yugi inched his head just far enough away to look into the ancient spirit's face. But Yami no Bakura's head was bowed so Yugi could see no expression.

Yugi ached, with the injures, but also with empathy. "He loves you more."

"Shut up," Yami no Bakura grumbled.

Yugi released one of his hands from around Bakura Ryou's neck, to touch that thick white hair, smoothing it back. "If you asked him to, he wouldn't go out with Malik."

"I _know_."

Yugi bit his lip. "If you told him that you love him…"

"_What_? He'd run back to me and then what? What would his life be like following after a spirit who can't age, can't feel? What kind of life would that be for him?"

Yugi's voice burned. He couldn't speak. What a horrible curse they had upon them.

Yami no Bakura moved. Yugi released his legs from around Bakura Ryou's middle so that the spirit of the Ring could rest his head against Yugi's chest.

"You could speak to him sometimes, even if it isn't anything meaningful. Like say 'goodnight' and stuff," Yugi said, holding the Yami's head. Taming those white locks with his tiny fingers… "Bakura-kun, would like that."

Yami no Bakura snorted. "I can't do that. I'm too selfish."

"You're going to be together his whole life. You'll have to have to speak to him sometime."

Yami no Bakura was still, curled up next to Yugi, his face hidden from view to keep his pride. "My pride is too strong."

Panic was settling in again. But it was different from before. This time Yugi would have to much more lose. "No one's that strong… you don't want anything for yourself…?"

Waiting for an answer nearly killed him.

"There's nothing in this world that would ease your pain?" Yugi tried again. And the boy's fingers were drifting over the smooth baby hairs on the back of Yami no Bakura's neck.

"You don't know what you're asking," the spirit of the Ring said.

Yugi buried his fingers back into the hair, holding on. "I only want what Bakura-kun has."

"No." Yami no Bakura gripped Yugi hard around his hips, pinching him. "I am not Malik. Both Yadonushi and Malik are alive, they are the owners of their bodies, they can live and age. I can't."

Yugi swallowed, twisting his fingers even tighter. "I don't care."

"_Don't_-" Yami no Bakura squeezed until Yugi thought he felt bruises bursting under his skin, "_Don't_ you_ dare _say that!"

Yugi flinched.

"You _will_ care. When you have to shape the Pharaoh's _and_ your life around Yadonushi's, sharing the body of the one you love with another man will drive you insane. And you'll never be first. Everything I do is, and will be, for Yadonushi."

It would be hard. Yugi's life would constantly be on hold. Not only for the spirit of the Ring's whims, but for Bakura Ryou's and Malik's and his own Yami's as well. Could anything survive through so many complications?

Yugi relaxed his hands. "I want to try."

"It will kill you."

"Do you want me or not?" Yugi asked.

The spirit paused. He smoothed his body out, stretching so he was side by side with Yugi again, looking into the adolescent's face now. His eyes were, as always, black black black…

"You'll be like Yadonushi would have been if we were together," Yami no Bakura said, tracing the bone of Yugi's hip. "You'll follow after immortals, and I won't feel guilty about it."

Yugi managed a smile. "Yeah you will."

Yami no Bakura's brow tightened over his eyes.

"If it becomes too hard, I'll leave," Yugi promised. "Just don't stalk after me if I do."

"Of course." The Yami's stare was following his own finger tips as they passed Yugi's bellybutton.

As Yugi examined that other mouth, he knew neither of them would uphold this promise.

Yami no Bakura's hand tugged at Yugi's shirt. "You're going to have to make up for lost time, slut."

Yugi's body shuddered. Anticipation dared to creep back into his gut. "I'm prepared to be sore." His ribs and neck were already bruised.

Yami no Bakura flashed his brilliant white teeth. "Sore is the best you can hope for." And he dragged Yugi forward by the front of his shirt so their mouths could meet.

Yugi hummed as he ran his tongue over Yami no Bakura's. Tasted like sex. Their bodies joined again over the hard concrete, molding against one another.

It was the strangest thing, but even after their time apart, Yami no Bakura tasted so… good. Kisses made Yugi lose his breath. Yami no Bakura's skip of a finger on his arm made Yugi alight with heat. Never before had Yugi _felt_ so much while doing this. Even though he was on a ruined floor of a broken building and they had only just gotten back together…

Yugi's arms were locked around Yami no Bakura's back, doing everything he could to bring their bodies closer. Closer…

"So forceful," Yami no Bakura rocked himself forward. "You _really_ must have missed me."

Yugi gasped. How surprising was the spirit's hand under his shirt? As though Yugi had never felt it before. Yugi let his groans be heard. "It's been so long." _God_! This felt good. "Maybe I forgot how good you were, Bakura-sama."

With an animal chuckle, Yami no Bakura climbed up on top of Yugi's hips. Yugi between his legs, groin over groin. Yami no Bakura's back arched, leaning back for optimal contact. The two hardened members clashing in clumsy need.

"Ah," Yugi couldn't help himself. He knocked his hips upward. He was hot. And the insides of his jeans were too tight and restricting. "_Ah_– " What was this? Their pants weren't even off! And yet Yugi was full of heat, too much oxygen from his gasping mouth, ecstasy was not far away.

Then the spirit pulled his shoulders down again, crouching over Yugi. He and Yugi were nose-nose close, open mouth over open mouth, breathing in each other's breath. "Yugi…"

Yugi _loved_ his name. He moaned as Yami no Bakura's hand groped on his hip. "_Ba_-kura-"

"I want you."

And Yugi looked into those black, black, black eyes…

They were in perfect understanding.

Yugi was scared. He was scaring himself.

Yes.

"I want you," Yugi said, mouth fumbling against Yami no Bakura's. "I _want_-"

"_Fucking_ hell guys!"

Malik had woken up.

Yugi's insides, that a second ago had been raging, froze.

Luckily it was Malik who woke up in his body and not the _other_ Malik. Still, it was supremely embarrassing.

Yugi tried to smooth out the wrinkles in his pants. Not that it did much good to cover up his condition. Yami no Bakura was still crouched over him, though thankfully he had stopped his rhythmic actions.

"And to think I fucking let him out with Ryou, for you two!" Malik screamed. "Ungrateful bastards. What are you two? _Bunnies_?"

Yugi blushed like the sun.

"_Let_. Him. Out?" Yami no Bakura leapt off of Yugi. He wasn't hot anymore. "_You_ let your dark out on _Yadonushi_!?"

Malik gulped. And the side of his head was still bleeding a little from when Yami no Bakura had smashed it with a wood board. "It was all Ryou's idea!"

"I trusted _my_ Yadonushi to _you_!" Yami no Bakura was positively screaming. His fingers looked like they were itching to strangle the Egyptian. "_You dare to willingly put him in danger_!?"

"I didn't want to!" Malik screamed back. "Ryou wanted to! He threatened my Yami _himself_! He wanted to help _you_, ok? _God_! You are a fucking piece of work, you know!"

Yami no Bakura hesitated. His murderous eyes softened to their usual contempt. He was thinking.

Or communicating with Bakura Ryou?

Yugi held his breath.

Malik did too.

Finally Yami no Bakura's shoulders fell. "Thank you."

Malik sagged sideways. "Did you- did _you_ just thank _me_-"

"I wasn't talking to you!" Yami no Bakura snapped and turned away from Malik. His head bowed. Yami no Bakura was very good at hiding his expressions.

Yugi was not. Despite the horrifically embarrassing circumstances, Yugi felt happy tears in his eyes. He hiccupped right there on the ruined floor.

'Mou hitori no boku, what did that note from Bakura-kun say?'

The spirit finally stirred. The contents of the note flashed into Yugi's mind.

_Do not come out when Yugi is in danger. There is something he needs to see. Trust me. _

Yugi was so shocked he didn't even notice the pale arms that had looped him into their grasp. As he was lifted bridal-style into the air, Yugi leaned against Yami no Bakura's shoulder and thought this was all happening too fast. Only an hour ago he had been depressed and short tempered. And Bakura Ryou, had set Yugi up with the only man, Bakura Ryou's man, who knew how Yugi felt. The same man who loved Bakura Ryou more than the boy could ever hope to guess.

"Stop you're sobbing," Yami no Bakura ordered as he carried Yugi from the ruined building.

Yugi sniffed. "I _can't_."

Yami no Bakura's face was stony. "I knew you were too immature for this."

Yugi didn't care. He sobbed. And it wasn't only for him. Those dry gasps echoing throughout his body were as much for himself as they were for the Yami in his head and the Yami carrying him home.

* * *

) - ( - ) - ( - ) - (

* * *

YAY!! YAY!! Yami no Bakura is back !! I missed him too.  :9

_So_ epic.

Man, I love this story.

LET'S SEE WHERE THIS HEXAGON LEADS US!! _NEXT CHAPTER_ WILL BE THE _LAST_!! (yes, yes, I know, don't cry. It's ok. It's ok)

**LOVE IT??? _REVIEW_ IT!! **


	12. I'll Remember You, Till I Rot

SO I like _just_ finished writing this. Probably two seconds ago… Its been about 82 days (exactly) since I last updated this... boo me...

Yes, I haven't written anything since last Christmas! (and its now FEBUARY) Damn… I kinda fail. No, I take that back. MY LIFE FAILS! At the moment, not generally. A.K.A. I got shits to do. And my birthday only reminds me of how old I am… (I just realized that this last sentence this makes me sound really old, in case you just got a picture of a old otaku lady with 6 cats and hair growing out my ears, wearing a "WILL DANCE FOR ANIME" shirt (which I do NOT own). This is not me. I'm actually not that old… not that can believe me. Mwahahaha.) (notice how I'm cleverly not telling WHEN my birthday is. HA! You stalkers.)

Now that we had that little heart-to-heart, let's move onto the story, shall we?

NOTICE: "Oh-sama-yo" means like Oh great King. The way Yami no Bakura uses it makes him an asshole.

Remember: LAST CHAPTER! Suckers.

**

* * *

**

Chyaputa 12: I'll Remember You, Till I Rot

* * *

"Ok…"

Yugi's eyes connected with Malik's. The showdown had begun.

"Fridays," Malik demanded.

"You can't get him _every_ Friday. Fridays are the best day of the week."

Malik pouted. "You can have Saturday and Sunday."

"Who does anything on Sundays?"

"Hey, there's no school on Saturdays! You get the whole day!"

"Bakura-kun has to go to school with you every day anyway," Yugi pointed out.

"Um…" Ryou Bakura with his doe-brown eyes raised a timid finger. "I'd like Sundays off, for homework… and to rest."

Malik crossed his arms over his chest and sunk back into the couch. Yugi was in the arm chair. Bakura Ryou was in between them, perched on a chair, his face flushed.

"Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays," Malik said.

This wasn't going to end well. "Isn't it a little unfair to Bakura-kun if we divide up his time like he's some kinda of thing?"

"I'm only trying to make things clear." Malik explained practically. He despite his usual carefree attitude, he was deadly serious about this topic. "I mean, I certainly don't want to wake up with icky other Bakura next to me in the morning."

He had a point. Yugi certainly didn't want either Bakura to be in an awkward situation. He didn't want to wake up with a blushing conflicted Bakura Ryou.

"Fine," Yugi said.

"No."

Malik and Yugi jumped as Yami no Bakura took control over the body. His black eyes were on Malik. "No sleepovers on weekdays. You are to be out of the house by 8. Yadonushi is not going to fail school because of you."

"Why don't you let Ryou decide if he wants to see me at night? You're not his mother!"

Yami no Bakura was on his feet. So was Malik, but he's stance looked only mildly intimidating next to the Yami's fierce power.

"Calm down, guys," Yugi urged, standing up between them. "It's ok, Bakura. I'm sure Malik doesn't want Bakura-kun to fail either. Malik, Bakura-kun needs time too. How about weeknights Malik, _and_ Bakura and I, have to leave Bakura-kun alone after 10, _temporarily_," Yugi added because Malik gave him a look, "If Bakura-kun's grades are ok there can be flexibility."

Malik sat back down. Yami no Bakura scoffed and turned away. Compromises made every party unhappy. Yugi didn't want to have to leave at 10, but he had school too…

"What about special occasions? Like if I want to see Ryou on Saturdays?" Malik asked.

"Suck it up," Yami no Bakura scratched his ear. Malik seethed.

"We'll talk about it when the time comes. If we have to we'll switch days," Yugi answered. "Ok? We get Saturdays, Mondays and Tuesdays? Malik and Bakura-kun get Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. And Sundays can be negotiable, ok?"

Malik frowned. Yami no Bakura said nothing but morphed back into his lighter personality. Bakura Ryou sat down on the couch next to Malik. "Sounds good, Yugi-kun."

Yugi shrugged. If only Yami no Bakura had stayed. Not that Yugi didn't want to hang out with Bakura Ryou… but Yugi hadn't seen the spirit of the Ring since the two of them had gotten back together. Malik swooped his boyfriend into his arms and kissed his neck, Bakura Ryou shooed the enthusiastic Egyptian away half-heartedly. And today was Friday… so Yugi wouldn't see Yami on Bakura till tomorrow…

Yugi lifted up his head to see Bakura Ryou staring at him with those knowledgeable eyes. He knew. And he smiled as he turned to his lover and held Malik's head between his palms. "I want to give this night to mou hitori no boku."

Malik's face was aghast. "What? _Why_?"

Bakura Ryou kissed Malik on forehead. "Because, they just got back together, Malik."

Malik didn't have time to retort, because one second later he had his arms around, _not_ his lover, but Bakura Ryou's Yami. Malik leapt off the couch to escape Yami no Bakura's touch. "_Tell_ me before you guys switch, _ok_?"

Yugi's heart rocked as Yami on Bakura stood again. "Like I want your hands on me again." And the Yami sauntered over to Yugi's arm chair and picked up the boy with one hand and captured his lips…

Yugi was so caught off guard he didn't even notice Malik choking.

"You want to do that on your own time?" Malik snarled, turning his head fully away.

Yami no Bakura had his arms around Yugi's middle. "I was getting rid of your spit, Malik."

Malik huffed. "Fuck you."

"Hey, hold on," Yugi, dazed from all this mixed interaction between the two Bakuras, pulled himself away from the Yami. "I want to talk to Bakura-kun for a sec."

Yami no Bakura frowned. "For?"

"Just for a sec, ok?" Yugi took his… was Yami no Bakura his boyfriend now? He'd have to ask him about that later… Yugi took the Yami by the arms and sat him down on the couch next to Malik. Then Yugi leaned into Yami no Bakura face so he could look right into the spirit's dark eyes. "Please."

Yami no Bakura scowled for a second, before his face dissolved into Bakura Ryou's complacent expression. "What's up?"

Yugi pulled Malik and Bakura Ryou together, and then sat himself on the opposite arm chair. "Bakura-kun…" Yugi bit his lip. "May I have your permission to date mou hitori no Bakura."

Bakura Ryou's simple face, broke into a grin. And yet… his eyes dropped a little. "Of course, Yugi-kun. I can't think of anyone better to take care of him."

Yugi swallowed. He knew, they all knew, as Malik wrapped an arm around Bakura Ryou's shoulders, Bakura Ryou loved his yami. Loved him heart and soul. How hard was it to give up a yami? A being who was, until this moment, completely and totally devoted to your own existence…

Would Yugi ever have to give up Yami in the same way?

Who… now that Yugi thought of it, was strangely absent, even though Bakura Ryou was in the room…

Yugi fought his inner sorrow, as Bakura Ryou ducked his head into Malik's shoulder. The boy was never weak when it came to other subjects… he hadn't flinched in front of Yami no Malik. But when it came to Yami no Bakura…

"He needs you." Bakura Ryou said as he attempted and failed to hide a sniff. Malik squeezed him. "He needs someone and I'm so happy it's you, Yugi." Bakura was composing himself again. "You can understand him."

Malik dug a hand into Bakura Ryou's hair. "Yeah, make sure Spiky's nice and occupied, won't you?"

Bakura Ryou released a choked laugh. But Yugi didn't, nor did Malik. Both he and the Egyptian knew… Malik had been serious.

Yugi thought of something else he should probably do. "And Malik, can I date the same body as you?"

Malik, stunned for a moment that Yugi had brought up such a thing, sighed and looked down at his boyfriend for a moment. Bakura Ryou nodded at him. Malik shrugged. "I guess I'll just _have_ to accept."

Yugi breathed. It wasn't much, but at least the guilt eased on Yugi's stomach. This was dangerous situation. Things were bound to blow up sooner or later. "Thank you, Malik, Bakura-kun. I really do…" What had he been about to say? Yugi touched his hair nervously. "I really do love him so you don't need to worry."

When Yugi looked up, he saw that both Malik's and Bakura Ryou's faces were blank.

"What?" Yugi was worried.

Bakura Ryou blinked.

"Did you just say you _love_…" was all Malik could manage before he was bodily lifted from his seat and thrown at the front door by Yami no Bakura. "Shit! Do I at least get to say goodbye, you _assfuck_?"

But Malik might have been just a smelly piece of garage for how fast Yami no Bakura was getting rid of him. Poor Malik disappeared out the door in less than three seconds. Yugi heard the lock click under the spirit of the Ring's hands.

Yugi gulped.

They were alone now.

"Now…" Yami no Bakura turned around. He had his predator face on. "What were you saying about me?"

Yugi clutched at the chair beneath him. "Ah…" He was in for it now.

Yes, within seconds Yami no Bakura had mounted the comfy chair that Yugi was sitting on, straddling Yugi with his knees. And Yami no Bakura drew kisses from Yugi's mouth like the boy was a good drink. It was all Yugi could do to hang onto the ancient's spirit's legs, biting back. Their touch weighted into each other, rolling, like Yugi's weak stomach. Their bodies were synchronized. And heat was building up below Yugi's stomach.

He was dizzy by the time Yami no Bakura broke the kiss. The thief was always in control.

And they both knew they were alone in Bakura Ryou's apartment. For the night.

Yami no Bakura had Yugi's face between his hands. Their breathing had increased. And their positioning reminded him of when they had first kissed, in the castle, pumped full of adrenaline and hormones…

Yugi's face was hot. What were they going to do now…? What they had begun in the ruined building earlier that day?

"Yugi…" Yami no Bakura hissed. And it was odd for the thief to say his name.

Yugi wrapped his arms around Bakura's back. "…Bakura…"

Yami no Bakura's body was hot too.

"Let the king out," Yami no Bakura ordered.

Yugi started. "What?" But he was so… in the thralls of anticipation. "Why?"

"Stop freaking out. We'll do fun stuff later." Yami no Bakura grinned. "Let the bugger out, will you?"

Yugi's already hot face stung as Yami no Bakura climbed off of him. The spirit of the Sennen Ring settled on the couch across from him with posture that could kill. Yugi was cold as the warmth from his skin crawled away. God, all he wanted was Yami no Bakura back on top of him…

How much of a slut was he?

Yugi had to compose himself before he went down into the mind. And, only a little bit regretfully, he knocked of his other half's door.

The Pharaoh didn't respond.

'Mou hitori no boku?' Yugi knocked harder. '_Mou hitori no boku_!' It was only when Yugi had opened the other's soulroom door and shouted once again into the dark labyrinth that the Pharaoh came out of the shadows.

/I was trying to give you two some space, like I promised,/ his darker half said.

Yugi took the moody king's hand. 'Bakura wants to talk to you.'

Yami no Yugi took a step back. /No./

This coming from the spirit who only a few weeks ago had tried to storm into Ryou's apartment to demand to talk to the Ring spirit? 'Mou hitori no boku!' Yugi cried. 'Look I think he's trying to help! Give him a chance. Please?'

Yami no Yugi softened. As he always did. Yugi knew this would be hard for him. How was he going to face the guy who had stolen his aibou away from him?

/Alright,/ Yami no Yugi shook himself and stepped in front of Yugi, marching towards the conscious mind like he was going off to war.

Yugi settled himself to watch. His Yami had taken over Mutou Yugi's body, joints went rigid under his control. He did not have the same cool collected air that he did during duels, facing an opponent he could beat. This was so much more personal. And Yami no Bakura was not smiling but Yugi could tell he was glowing with amusement at Yami no Yugi's discomfort.

"Hello, Oh-sama-yo," Yami no Bakura greeted. God, he was relishing this meeting wasn't he?

Yugi's nerves were flying.

Yami no Yugi did not move. "Bakura."

And then all amusement faded. The ancient spirit of the Ring was nothing but serious. "May I have permission to court your—"

"No." The spirit of the Puzzle was serious too.

'_Mou hitori no boku_!' Yugi cried.

The spirit didn't even flinch even though Yugi knew he had heard him.

Yami no Bakura cocked a single eyebrow. "Then you'll have a problem."

"Will I?"

"Between you and your lighter half," Yami no Bakura clarified.

It was true.

"And you don't want that. After all, your last fight went _so_ well…"

Yami no Yugi's emotions surged. /I'll _kill_ him…./

'No, you _won't_,' Yugi snapped. 'I thought you were ok with this.'

/Well, I wasn't looking at him before,/ the spirit answered. This was not going well.

"I was trying to be courteous before," Yami no Bakura said, and now his eyes were deadly. "I don't have the patience to be so again."

Yami no Yugi's emotions had never been so out of control. All heat and freezing cold, Yugi didn't know how his other half could stand it. "You only want my permission so that you won't have to be bothered with aibou being sad again."

Yugi flinched.

Yami no Bakura considered this. "Yes, that is true. When Yugi is with me I want him to think of me and only me. No one else."

"Maybe that's a little hard for him to do," Yami no Yugi snapped. "Because your just a second choice."

'_Stop_ it, mou hitori no boku!' Yugi screamed, beating on his other personality's consciousness. 'How can you do this-?'

"True."

Both Yugi and his Yami froze. Shocked.

Yami no Bakura remained in control. "Nor is your light _my_ first choice. Does that not make us perfect for each other?"

Yugi could have melted.

/_How_ can you like _him_?/ Yami no Yugi thought. /He's so… _arrogant_./

'He's no more arrogant than you,' Yugi pointed out hesitantly and predicting the wave of anger that shook the soul-hallway. 'He's different in _other_ ways.'

"Look," Yami no Bakura interrupted. "I hate you. You hate me. This will never change. But Yugi loves me. So _you'll_ have to deal with that."

Yami no Yugi gave a start.

Yes, Yugi answered him subconsciously. Yes, he did say he loved the other Yami, out loud even. He didn't even know if he had meant it or not. It had just come out…

"And do you…" Yami no Yugi swallowed, "Do you..?"

"Do I?" Yami no Bakura feigned ignorance. It was a dirty trick. "What?"

Yami no Yugi rippled with hate. "Do you _love_ my aibou?"

Yami no Bakura put on a contemplative face. "Now that is the question."

Yugi didn't mean to, but he was rigid, terrified in the consciousness. It was ok if Yami no Bakura didn't see them as… He didn't have to be _in_ _love_. It was ok, as long as Yugi could still see him, right?

Yami no Yugi shook off his aibou's ramblings; at least one of them had to keep a clear head… And their head was getting filled with unnecessary emotions these days. "If you don't feel as much, if not _more_, for aibou, I'll kill you if you come near."

Yami no Bakura didn't think much of this threat. "Fear not, Oh-sama. I love the boy alright."

Explosion in the head. Yugi had leapt for joy but accidentally dislodged his Yami's hold on the body at the same time.

'Oh god! Sorry, sorry, sorry…' Yugi apologized.

The Yami shook it off. /Its fine, aibou, really—/

'Really, I didn't mean—'

/_Fine_!/

Yugi froze. Yami no Yugi stood shivering in the soul hallway. His eyes turned away. Even now he was so strong.

/I'm fine./

Yugi could have cried. In fact he might have been. Yami no Bakura loved him and the spirit of the Puzzle didn't hate him… what more could he ask for?

Yugi moved to embrace his Yami, but the ancient spirit stepped back towards his soul room.

/No. I think you should go celebrate./

Yugi knew his Yami couldn't take a hug right now. 'What about you, mou hitori no boku?'

Yami no Yugi turned back to his soul room. /I'm going to bury myself _so_ far in the unconsciousness…/

The body was crying, Yugi knew it. 'Thanks, a million times…'

'Yes,' and the spirit of the Puzzle met Yugi's eye as he shut the soul room door behind him. 'I know, aibou.'

And Yugi practically sprang into consciousness again. Greeted by Yami no Bakura, as pleased as a cat.

"Glad to see you've reasoned yourself out."

Yugi was done with talking. So he jumped the Bakura, sprawling the spirit backwards on the couch. Yugi on top.

"This does pose a sort of predicament," Yami no Bakura observed, as Yugi kissed his neck. "Now what should I do? Hm…" Yami no Bakura groped Yugi's crouch. "Like it?"

Yugi yelped, and pushed the hand away. "Stop it! This time, I wanna do stuff."

"Do stuff? You're such a child." Yami no Bakura chuckled. "Let's see how long _that_ lasts."

Yugi slapped his shoulder playfully. "Give me a chance, bastard."

Yami no Bakura sighed and lay back, only slightly mockingly. No, Yugi didn't know what he was doing, but it had certainly been done to him a number of times. He could figure it out. First…

Yugi met Yami no Bakura's mouth as it waited for the kiss. Suck it hard, trying to catch up to Yami no Bakura's usual repertoire. But he was losing the battle of the mouths. Yami no Bakura was too forceful to match.

Yugi relinquished that battle. Yami no Bakura gave a victory grin.

"I'm not done," Yugi scolded his… boyfriend. Oh god. _Boyfriend_.

Yami no Bakura rolled his eyes. "I await your commands."

Yugi trembled. His body was beyond his control. Somehow he managed to tug off the Yami's shirt, his boyfriend's chest was smooth, sculpted. Yugi's breath caught hot in this mouth.

"Go on," Yami no Bakura urged, running his hands up and down Yugi's legs. "I'm waiting."

Yugi had to move back to reach the zipper on Yami no Bakura's pants. Yami no Bakura let Yugi do all the work, tugging down the pants. It was nothing Yugi hadn't seen before but for some reason the whole action seemed daunting to him.

The Yami was the picture of patience. "Well?"

And then with Yugi crouched between Yami no Bakura's legs, he leaned down, hands on either side of Bakura's upper thighs. Then Yugi began the motions that normally drove him wild. It was odd, hard, from this angle, giving certainly required different skills than taking. But Yugi tried to repeat all the motions that Yami no Bakura had done so many times on him before. And Yami no Bakura's breath increased, he must have been enjoying the experience. It was going well until Yugi got a little too enthusiastic and gagged himself.

"If I could make a suggestion…" Yami no Bakura rose. Humiliated Yugi obeyed as Yami no Bakura's urged Yugi to kneel on the floor as he himself sat up on the edge of the couch. "That might be easier," he said before grabbing a couple fiery kisses from Yugi's mouth before the guy returned to his work between Yami no Bakura's legs. The angle was certainly easier to work with. Yugi got used to the motions and continued more fervently than before. And Yami no Bakura in his turn, arched his back, moaned, while running his hands through Yugi's hair.

Yami no Bakura's body was hot. Almost too much for Yugi to contain, but he continued his duty. He wanted this, he wanted to do something for Yami no Bakura that was entirely by his craft. So Yugi ignored his human limitations. Then suddenly Yami no Bakura grabbed Yugi's head in both hands and tore him away from his progress. Yugi was shocked but understood as soon as Yami no Bakura grabbed a tissue from the coffee table and finished.

Yugi panted. "You didn't have to… I could have handled it."

"Yes, I'm sure." Yami no Bakura was done with the tissue and so threw it away in the trashcan.

Yugi tried to keep a pout from his lips. "I could have handled it."

Yami no Bakura's eyes went unnaturally wide. "Could you have?" And he took Yugi by the shoulders.

Yugi struggled as he was thrown onto the couch again, Yami no Bakura's mostly naked body on top of him. "I will next time," Yugi said firmly.

He felt the vibrations of Yami no Bakura's chuckle throughout his body. "How confident you've become these last few weeks."

Yugi would have protested more but it was Yami no Bakura's turn and he made up for all Yugi had done and more. Yugi was mess of hot, squirming feeling under his hands. Did Yami no Bakura feel like this when Yugi had did the same for him? Yugi hoped so. It was hard to measure himself someone who had done so much, who was so wise and powerful… Yugi gasped, his fingers clawing at the couch fabric for support. Everything Yami no Bakura did was so deliberate, masterful.

Would his Yami… if he had had a body of his own… have been as good as Yami no Bakura? No probably not, their situations shouldn't be compared. It was in fact impossible to compare…

Yugi had to leave his thoughts soon after this. The rush of his body left no room for thinking. And in the end Yami no Bakura outdid him as he always did.

Yami no Bakura was wiping his mouth with a tissue, sweaty hair sticking to his face. Yugi finally got enough breath back into his lungs to pull himself off the couch.

"I should say you enjoyed that one," Yami no Bakura's face split into a grin. And he was back up on the couch again, arms pulling Yugi closer. They were not done. No, now that they had all night there was no need to rush. No sneaking around, no secrets. Everyone knew. Yet as Yugi climbed up into his lap for another round of endless kisses, he knew a night really wasn't that long at all.

"Bakura…" Yugi pealed his lips away. But their heads were together, forehead to forehead. Breath was life.

Yami no Bakura grunted in response, hands capturing Yugi's hands.

"I was good, right? I didn't too bad of a job…?" Yugi grew warm with embarrassment. He shouldn't ask something so trivial. Yami no Bakura would surely just brush it off.

But he didn't. And the hands that had captured Yugi's squeezed and that was all reassurance that they needed.

Than Yami no Bakura inhaled. "You're right. We're both thinking too much."

Yugi broke away to look into Yami no Bakura's face. "What?"

Yami no Bakura turned to reach for his shirt.

"Hey," Yugi grabbed Yami no Bakura's face. "I didn't mean that we should stop. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything. I'm fine, really!"

But Yami no Bakura silenced him with a look. "No. You're not fine. And neither am I."

"But that's not going to change," Yugi argued. "We… after Yami no Malik attacked us…"

"Yes," Yami no Bakura agreed. And his mouth twitched almost into a smirk. "I wanted in you. And you were begging to be taken."

Yugi was a fury of blush. "I'm ready."

"Not now." Yami no Bakura said, and there was no more amusement on his face.

"Why not?" Yugi demanded. He was wrestling the shirt out of Bakura's hands. He didn't want them to end here! Just because of a stupid question!

Yami no Bakura shoved Yugi's hands away. "_I _don't want to."

Yugi was hit by those words. He watched as Yami no Bakura pulled back on his shirt. "I was bad then, was I?" Yugi asked, squeezing his ribs.

Yami no Bakura gave Yugi one of his ancient looks. "No. Stop freaking out."

Yugi huffed. "I'm not—" then he chocked. What? Yugi touched his face. He was crying. He couldn't stop. Grief coated his throat. "But I'm not…" He gasped for air. But he had been fine two seconds ago... why was he suddenly cryingg?

Yami no Bakura grabbed his lover, tugged him over the couch cushions. His arms bond Yugi to his chest. As though bracing him…

And even though they hadn't said anything, and Yugi did not know what could have possibly trigger it, sobs fought their way out of Yugi's chest. He was hiccupping sorrow against Yami no Bakura's chest. And he couldn't stop. The sorrow seemed at that moment endless. And he couldn't stop. Yami no Bakura let him wail, arms tight, face immovable.

After a bit Yugi sniffed back the sorrow enough to pull his tear-drenched face away from Yami no Bakura's chest. "How did you know…?" He looked up into his lover's face for answers.

Yami no Bakura said nothing. But Yugi got it. Yami no Bakura felt it too. The inner sorrow that was echoing out from his soul, like it was ripping him in two.

"It's official now," Yami no Bakura said.

Yugi gulped. He knew what the Yami was talking about. There was no turning back. Never again could they consider a life with only their other halves. Yugi had gone too far now to ask his Yami to live only for him. This relationship with Yami no Bakura renounced any chance of Yugi and his Yami being one and only true to each other. It was the same for Yami no Bakura and his precious Yadonushi.

Yugi sniffed and touched Yami no Bakura's face. "You can cry too, if you want. I won't tell anyone."

Yami no Bakura's frown deepened. "I'll deal with my grief my way."

Yugi nodded. He had asked too much.

"I want you to only think of me when we're together," Yami no Bakura said.

Yugi released a smile. "Yeah. Me too."

"So not tonight," Yami no Bakura decided. "We'll have sex. But not now."

Yugi reached for Yami no Bakura's head with both hands. "I still get you for the whole night. _Don't_ you forget."

Yami no Bakura met his eye and Yugi, like he was young and naïve again, trembled.

"I won't forget," the Yami said, his mouth stretched. "You were the one who asked for all of this. You have no one to blame but yourself."

Yugi wiped his cheeks with the back of his hand. "I could always _try_ to blame you."

Yami no Bakura was very _not_ amused.

"I'm joking," Yugi giggle. After his cry, his emotions felt raw. "I can't blame anyone, you know that. Not you." Never Yami no Bakura. He was too important.

"Yes," Yami no Bakura bit the word. But he seemed to have forgiven Yugi when he slipped an arm under his lover's legs. "We're taking a shower now."

"Together?" Yugi squeaked as he was lifted swiftly into the air. "But we won't fit! Bakura-kun's shower is so small."

"Hmm…" Yami no Bakura bit Yugi's ear. "_Very_ small." And with his black eyes alight with wickedness, Yami no Bakura swung his lover over his shoulder like a prize and carried him off to the bathroom.

**

* * *

**

THE END

* * *

THE END??? But how could that be?? Didn't I just start this thing? NO? Damn. What am I to do now…?

MUSE: write a sequel?

What a marvelous idea!! I think I'll do that!

YUGI and YAMI NO BAKURA: FUCK!

Fuck is right! More depressing shit it totally what I need! HOORAY! But this time I think I'll have a new protagonist, to tell this story from a fresh new angle…

YUGI: Phew.

How about Atemu A.K.A. Mr. Yami?

YAMI: Fuck.

Fuck is right! Who knows how many more love-hexagons I will create! Hooray for Muses!

MUSE: *brushes shoulders off*

Oh yeah, **REVIEW** this amazing stuff. **DO IT!**


End file.
